Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC Invests $127.25 Million in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 3,199,698 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $127,252,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 547 shares during the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 646 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler Companies upgraded 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 note on Tuesday, July 9th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total transaction of $465,811,996.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 835,908,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,088,345,979.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 129,780,724 shares of company stock worth $5,342,589,705 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Price Performance

NYSE:BAC opened at $40.27 on Friday. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $24.96 and a 52 week high of $44.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.88. The firm has a market cap of $314.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.22 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. The company’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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 will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.99%.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan 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 buy up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.