Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Sold by Janus Henderson Group PLC

Janus Henderson Group PLC lessened its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 53.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,155,144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,327,343 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $43,798,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Ethos Financial Group LLC increased its position in Bank of America by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 8,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $285,000 after purchasing an additional 492 shares during the period. Auxano Advisors LLC increased its position in Bank of America by 234.5% during the 4th quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC now owns 27,356 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $921,000 after purchasing an additional 19,179 shares during the period. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth approximately $105,000. Concord Wealth Partners increased its position in Bank of America by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 55,259 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,861,000 after purchasing an additional 5,103 shares during the period. Finally, Barometer Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,175,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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 company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total transaction of $559,278,840.51. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,020,161,313 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,958,509,063.91. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders sold a total of 49,545,245 shares of company stock worth $2,119,252,649 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BAC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler Companies raised Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Bank of America from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target (up previously from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target 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. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. One 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.07.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Bank of America stock traded up $0.19 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $41.28. 44,148,485 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 38,959,727. The firm has a market capitalization of $322.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a fifty day moving average of $40.48 and a 200-day moving average of $37.33. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $24.96 and a 52-week high of $44.44.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $25.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.22 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has initiated 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 repurchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.52%. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.22%.

Bank of America 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.