Mechanics Bank Trust Department Cuts Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Mechanics Bank Trust Department decreased its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 675 shares during the period. Mechanics Bank Trust Department’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,153,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 402.2% in the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 547 shares during the period. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Clearstead Trust LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1,489.3% during the 1st quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 890 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 834 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Piper Sandler Companies raised Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $39.50 to $40.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price target (up from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of America news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the business’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 transaction of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 6,993,520 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.63, for a total transaction of $284,146,717.60. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 948,077,805 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,520,401,217.15. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 56,549,666 shares of company stock valued at $2,403,801,723. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.2 %

BAC stock traded up $0.07 on Friday, hitting $38.28. 26,411,232 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 39,617,418. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $299.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.25, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $40.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.71.

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, topping 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 business had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.22 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.26 per share. 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 2.72%. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 35.99%.

Bank of America declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.