Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. Sells 6,800 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd. decreased its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 114,720 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,800 shares during the period. Sompo Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $4,562,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake 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 worth $24,437,936,000 after purchasing an additional 36,124,363 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 360.9% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 37,290,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,255,514,000 after acquiring an additional 29,198,846 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings 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 worth $3,502,720,000 after purchasing an additional 9,879,524 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its stake in Bank of America by 959.6% in the second quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 9,327,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $370,948,000 after purchasing an additional 8,447,091 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America during the first quarter valued at about $261,923,000. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Down 1.4 %

BAC opened at $40.28 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. Bank of America Co. has a one year low of $24.96 and a one year high of $44.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $315.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $39.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.86.

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, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share 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 purchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are 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 paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 35.99%.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

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 transaction, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the 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 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 legal filing 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 on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 129,780,724 shares of company stock worth $5,342,589,705. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BAC has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler upgraded Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Piper Sandler Companies raised shares of 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. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Bank of America from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. 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.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.22.

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.