Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC Cuts Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 295,473 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,913 shares during the quarter. Bank of America accounts for approximately 0.9% of Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $11,751,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Bank of America by 5.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,437,936,000 after buying an additional 36,124,363 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth $3,734,407,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Bank of America by 10.5% during the fourth 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 buying an additional 9,879,524 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC increased its holdings in 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 worth $1,363,928,000 after buying an additional 2,935,040 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Bank of America by 0.4% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,354,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,530,241,000 after buying an additional 165,070 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In other news, 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 value of $559,278,840.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,020,161,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,958,509,063.91. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total value of $559,278,840.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,020,161,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,958,509,063.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 99,607,967 shares of company stock valued at $4,122,466,245. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC traded down $0.01 on Thursday, hitting $40.49. 2,328,409 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 39,080,879. Bank of America Co. has a 12 month low of $24.96 and a 12 month high of $44.44. The business has a 50-day moving average of $40.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $316.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.01, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.35.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $25.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. Bank of America’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors 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. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.57%. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is 35.99%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Cfra reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $39.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated 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. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.22.

About Bank of America

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.