MJP Associates Inc. ADV Has $885,000 Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

MJP Associates Inc. ADV lowered its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 3.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 22,257 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 688 shares during the period. MJP Associates Inc. ADV’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $885,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 5.9% during the 1st 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 bought a new position in Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,734,407,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 9,879,524 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted 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 buying an additional 1,315,056 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 7.8% in 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 in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 998,961,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,085,191,337.27. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available 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 that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $43,085,191,337.27. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 56,549,666 shares of company stock valued at $2,403,801,723. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of Bank of America stock traded up $0.07 on Friday, reaching $38.28. 26,411,232 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 39,617,418. 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 firm has a market cap of $299.36 billion, a PE ratio of 13.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $40.31 and its 200-day moving average is $37.71. Bank of America Co. has a one year low of $24.96 and a one year high of $44.44.

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 the consensus estimate of $25.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase 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 buy up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.72%. 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%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on BAC. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Bank of America from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Bank of America from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Wolfe Research raised Bank of America from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.