Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Stock Price Down 1.6% Following Insider Selling

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)’s share price dropped 1.6% during trading on Friday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $39.24 and last traded at $39.26. Approximately 10,613,484 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 39,103,152 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.88.

Specifically, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,031,014 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.28, for a total transaction of $202,649,243.92. Following the sale, the insider now owns 863,977,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,801,017,687.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,031,639 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.66, for a total value of $326,566,441.74. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 874,692,264 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,564,987,454.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on BAC shares. Piper Sandler Companies upgraded shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.22.

Bank of America Trading Down 2.8 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $303.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.41, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.35. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.52.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The company had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.22 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.99%.

Bank of America declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Bank of America by 5.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,437,936,000 after buying an additional 36,124,363 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,734,407,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Bank of America by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 104,030,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,502,720,000 after purchasing an additional 9,879,524 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in 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 during the period. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC increased its position in Bank of America by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 40,508,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,363,928,000 after buying an additional 2,935,040 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Company 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.