Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC Acquires 311 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the period. Wescott Financial Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $591,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barometer Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at $2,175,000. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its holdings in Bank of America by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 40,508,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,363,928,000 after purchasing an additional 2,935,040 shares during the period. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at $3,601,000. American National Bank & Trust Co. VA acquired a new stake in Bank of America in the first quarter valued at $1,322,000. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV acquired a new stake in Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at $6,336,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total transaction of $559,278,840.51. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,020,161,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,958,509,063.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $402,355.91. Following the sale, the insider now owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total transaction of $559,278,840.51. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,020,161,313 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,958,509,063.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 134,722,127 shares of company stock valued at $5,539,949,341 in the last 90 days. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective (up from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Bank of America from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Bank of America from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays increased their price target on Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.22.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $39.45 on Wednesday. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $24.96 and a fifty-two week high of $44.44. The stock has a market cap of $306.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.65, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33. 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 $39.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.97.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm earned $0.88 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America announced that its board has approved a share repurchase 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 buy up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be given 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 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 (DPR) is currently 35.99%.

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.