First Financial Bank Trust Division Sells 6,557 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

First Financial Bank Trust Division cut its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 2.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 217,318 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,557 shares during the period. First Financial Bank Trust Division’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $8,623,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Bank of America by 5.9% in 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 buying an additional 36,124,363 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 360.9% in 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 raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 10.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 9,879,524 shares in the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 959.6% in the 2nd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 9,327,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $370,948,000 after acquiring an additional 8,447,091 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 1st quarter worth $261,923,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on BAC. Piper Sandler raised shares of 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 research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.27.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 1,722,523 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.40, for a total value of $67,867,406.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 794,120,913 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,288,363,972.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 1,722,523 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.40, for a total value of $67,867,406.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 794,120,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,288,363,972.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 transaction of $3,661,600.00. Following the transaction, 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. Insiders have sold a total of 147,650,481 shares of company stock valued at $6,050,547,676 in the last ninety days. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.0 %

Bank of America stock opened at $39.23 on Thursday. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $24.96 and a 52 week high of $44.44. The firm has a market cap of $306.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $39.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were given a $0.26 dividend. 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 2.65%. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is 35.99%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors 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.