Bridges Investment Management Inc. Acquires Shares of 45,159 Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Bridges Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 45,159 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,796,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position 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 period. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 839.0% during the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 646 shares in the last quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on BAC shares. Cfra reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $39.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. 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 research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total transaction of $530,145,635.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 998,961,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,085,191,337.27. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total transaction of $530,145,635.91. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 998,961,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,085,191,337.27. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,824,063.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 129,780,724 shares of company stock valued at $5,342,589,705. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $40.28 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.86. 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 company has a market cap 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 Co. has a 12 month low of $24.96 and a 12 month high of $44.44.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $25.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is 35.99%.

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

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.