Aviso Wealth Management Cuts Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Aviso Wealth Management cut its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 16.1% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 25,008 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,796 shares during the quarter. Aviso Wealth Management’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $995,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,437,936,000 after acquiring an additional 36,124,363 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Bank of America by 10.5% during the 4th 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 buying an additional 9,879,524 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in Bank of America by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,288,347,000 after buying an additional 895,884 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Bank of America by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,354,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,530,241,000 after buying an additional 165,070 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Bank of America by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 37,654,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,267,820,000 after buying an additional 5,488,790 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on BAC shares. 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 note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays boosted their target price on Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler Companies upgraded Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Bank of America from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. One 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. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.22.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $402,577.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 3,915,126 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.52, for a total value of $154,725,779.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 802,668,860 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,721,473,347.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 140,942,405 shares of company stock valued at $5,785,202,516 over the last quarter. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE BAC opened at $39.40 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $308.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.63, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $24.96 and a twelve month high of $44.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $39.62 and a 200 day moving average of $39.02.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $25.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.22 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.64%. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.99%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is 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.