Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Reduces Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. reduced its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,909 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,180 shares during the period. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $553,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,734,407,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 36,124,363 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 360.9% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 37,290,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,255,514,000 after acquiring an additional 29,198,846 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 9,879,524 shares during the period. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 959.6% during the 2nd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 9,327,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $370,948,000 after acquiring an additional 8,447,091 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC stock traded up $0.35 on Wednesday, reaching $38.81. 14,629,730 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 39,299,367. The firm has a market cap of $303.51 billion, a PE ratio of 13.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.35. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $24.96 and a twelve month high of $44.44. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $40.25 and a 200-day moving average of $37.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.88 earnings per share. Bank of America’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.99%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bank of America news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the company’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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total transaction of $530,145,635.91. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 998,961,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,085,191,337.27. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the 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 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 sold 56,549,666 shares of company stock valued at $2,403,801,723. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays increased their price objective on Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler Companies upgraded Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Bank of America from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.07.

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.