Providence Capital Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Providence Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 251,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,739 shares during the period. Bank of America comprises approximately 2.2% of Providence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Providence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $10,013,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 5.9% during the 1st 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 last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 9,879,524 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 40,508,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,363,928,000 after purchasing an additional 2,935,040 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Bank of America by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,354,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $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% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 37,654,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,267,820,000 after buying an additional 5,488,790 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on BAC. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased 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 research report on Thursday, July 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded 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 research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Cfra restated a “sell” rating and set a $39.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.22.

Bank of America Stock Down 1.0 %

Bank of America stock opened at $39.88 on Tuesday. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $24.96 and a 1-year high of $44.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $311.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.33. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $39.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.22 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.99%.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback 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 purchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total value of $465,811,996.80. Following the sale, 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 is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total transaction of $465,811,996.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 835,908,435 shares in the company, valued at $34,088,345,979.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of 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. Insiders have sold 129,780,724 shares of company stock valued at $5,342,589,705 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.