Cowa LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Cowa LLC lessened its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 47,508 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 292 shares during the quarter. Bank of America comprises 1.0% of Cowa LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position. Cowa LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,889,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 402.2% during the 1st 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. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its holdings in 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 valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 646 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on BAC shares. Piper Sandler Companies raised Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Bank of America from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of 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 given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total value of $465,811,996.80. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 835,908,435 shares in the company, valued at $34,088,345,979.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total transaction of $465,811,996.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 835,908,435 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,088,345,979.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 129,780,724 shares of company stock worth $5,342,589,705 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC opened at $40.87 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $40.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.82. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $24.96 and a 12-month high of $44.44. The firm has a market cap of $319.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.14, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.22 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.99%.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.