816,947 Shares in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Purchased by Kimelman & Baird LLC

Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 816,947 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $32,490,000. Bank of America makes up approximately 2.7% of Kimelman & Baird LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brio Consultants LLC bought a new position in Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at $227,000. Gilbert & Cook Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 17,388 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $585,000 after buying an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Rollins Financial raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Rollins Financial now owns 441,919 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,879,000 after buying an additional 48,998 shares during the last quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in Bank of America by 44.4% during the 4th quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 11,664 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $393,000 after buying an additional 3,585 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Bank of America by 406.6% during the 4th quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 450,261 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,160,000 after acquiring an additional 361,379 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price target (up previously from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.22.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of BAC stock opened at $39.40 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $39.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.04. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $24.96 and a 1 year high of $44.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $308.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.63, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. The business had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. This is an increase 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 buyback plan on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 1,020,161,313 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,958,509,063.91. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Bank of America news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,020,161,313 shares in the company, valued at $44,958,509,063.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 140,942,405 shares of company stock valued at $5,785,202,516. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.