Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 163,284 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,916 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $6,494,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BAC. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Bank of America in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 402.2% in the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 547 shares during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 839.0% in the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 646 shares in the last quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America during the second quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on BAC shares. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Cfra reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $39.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target 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. Piper Sandler Companies raised Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.22.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE BAC opened at $40.28 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $39.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.86. 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 Co. has a twelve month low of $24.96 and a twelve month high of $44.44. The company has a market capitalization of $315.00 billion, a PE ratio of 13.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 35.99%.

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

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total value of $559,278,840.51. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,020,161,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,958,509,063.91. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total value of $559,278,840.51. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,020,161,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,958,509,063.91. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total transaction of $3,661,600.00. Following the transaction, 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. Insiders sold a total of 129,780,724 shares of company stock worth $5,342,589,705 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.