Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Sold by Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH lessened its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 2.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,869,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 170,851 shares during the quarter. Bank of America accounts for 1.5% of Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $233,424,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,437,936,000 after purchasing an additional 36,124,363 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,734,407,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings 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 valued at $3,502,720,000 after purchasing an additional 9,879,524 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 41,833,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,408,520,000 after purchasing an additional 1,315,056 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 7.8% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In related news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $402,355.91. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total value of $530,145,635.91. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 998,961,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,085,191,337.27. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 99,609,567 shares of company stock worth $4,122,483,669. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BAC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price (up from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. StockNews.com raised Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler Companies upgraded Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Cfra reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $39.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.07.

Bank of America Trading Up 1.4 %

Bank of America stock traded up $0.58 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $40.75. The stock had a trading volume of 43,911,159 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,229,773. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $24.96 and a twelve month high of $44.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $318.68 billion, a PE ratio of 14.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.35. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.21.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its 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 return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. 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 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America declared that its board has approved a stock 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 repurchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors 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. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.55%. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.99%.

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.