Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 24.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,006,234 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 328,052 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $40,018,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Bank of America by 402.2% in the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares during the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 839.0% in the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares during the period. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Down 2.8 %

Bank of America stock opened at $38.76 on Friday. 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 market capitalization of $303.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.41, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $24.96 and a 1-year high of $44.44. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $40.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.52.

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

Bank of America announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 35.99%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total transaction of $530,145,635.91. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 998,961,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,085,191,337.27. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total value of $530,145,635.91. Following the sale, the insider now owns 998,961,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,085,191,337.27. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 112,670,620 shares of company stock valued at $4,651,681,930. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on BAC shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Bank of America from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Piper Sandler Companies upgraded Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.22.

About Bank of America

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.