First Financial Bankshares Inc Purchases 8,734 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

First Financial Bankshares Inc boosted its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 0.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,205,017 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,734 shares during the quarter. First Financial Bankshares Inc’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $47,815,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 valued at $24,437,936,000 after buying an additional 36,124,363 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised its holdings in Bank of America by 959.6% during the 2nd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 9,327,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $370,948,000 after purchasing an additional 8,447,091 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 1st quarter worth approximately $261,923,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1,432.1% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,151,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $244,627,000 after purchasing an additional 5,749,567 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 290.7% during the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 7,114,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $269,763,000 after buying an additional 5,293,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Trading Down 1.8 %

NYSE:BAC opened at $41.89 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $325.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $24.96 and a 1 year high of $44.44. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $40.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.62.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.26 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.48%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase 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 generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BAC. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. StockNews.com raised Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies raised Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.69.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of America news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of Bank of America 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 trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,577.37. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, 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 stock was sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 120,072,238 shares of company stock worth $4,833,067,143. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.