LS Investment Advisors LLC Trims Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

LS Investment Advisors LLC decreased its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 2.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 287,055 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,918 shares during the quarter. Bank of America makes up 1.8% of LS Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. LS Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $11,416,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Bank of America by 5.9% in 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth about $3,734,407,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 9,879,524 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 41,833,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,408,520,000 after purchasing an additional 1,315,056 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC grew 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 worth $1,363,928,000 after purchasing an additional 2,935,040 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of BAC stock traded down $0.25 on Tuesday, reaching $39.67. 32,060,448 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 39,208,715. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $24.96 and a 52 week high of $44.44. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $310.23 billion, a PE ratio of 13.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.35. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.14.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $25.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.22 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.99%.

Bank of America announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Bank of America from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Seaport Res Ptn raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Bank of America from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bank of America 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 transaction of $530,145,635.91. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 998,961,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,085,191,337.27. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of Bank of America 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 998,961,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,085,191,337.27. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 66,768,513 shares of company stock worth $2,807,216,504 in the last ninety days. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.