New World Advisors LLC Sells 2,300 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

New World Advisors LLC reduced its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 21.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,300 shares during the period. New World Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $342,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Ethos Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 8,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 492 shares during the period. Barometer Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,175,000. IMA Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the first quarter valued at about $1,453,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 149.9% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 21,247 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $715,000 after buying an additional 12,744 shares during the period. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 7.8% during 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 buying an additional 2,935,040 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of Bank of America stock traded down $0.12 on Wednesday, hitting $40.58. The stock had a trading volume of 11,326,705 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,140,617. 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 Co. has a one year low of $24.96 and a one year high of $44.44. The stock has a market cap of $317.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.12, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.35. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.43.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $25.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.99%.

Bank of America declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in 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 generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. 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 report on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.22.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 998,961,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,085,191,337.27. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Bank of America news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,824,063.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The shares were 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 approximately $43,085,191,337.27. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 99,609,567 shares of company stock valued at $4,122,483,669 over the last quarter. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.