Lafayette Investments Inc. Has $2.22 Million Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Lafayette Investments Inc. cut its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 56,054 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 452 shares during the quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $2,224,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Bank of America by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,437,936,000 after acquiring an additional 36,124,363 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,288,347,000 after purchasing an additional 895,884 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 0.4% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,354,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,530,241,000 after purchasing an additional 165,070 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC grew its position in Bank of America by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 21,465,791 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $813,983,000 after purchasing an additional 954,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 23.6% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 16,260,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $646,693,000 after buying an additional 3,109,197 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on BAC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.69.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of BAC traded up $0.13 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $42.47. 2,600,805 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 38,570,664. Bank of America Co. has a one year low of $24.96 and a one year high of $44.44. The firm has a market cap of $332.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.65, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $40.11 and a 200-day moving average of $39.53.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. Bank of America’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is 35.99%.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total value of $369,952,591.90. Following the sale, the insider now owns 766,305,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $402,355.91. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $402,577.37. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total value of $369,952,591.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 766,305,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,606,297,408.10. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 132,863,500 shares of company stock worth $5,363,830,468 over the last ninety days. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Bank of America Profile

Bank of America Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides banking and financial products and services for individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses, institutional investors, large corporations, and governments worldwide. It operates in four segments: Consumer Banking, Global Wealth & Investment Management (GWIM), Global Banking, and Global Markets.