Stephens Inc. AR Trims Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Stephens Inc. AR lessened its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 671,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 21,191 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $26,648,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Bank of America by 5.9% in 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 period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Bank of America by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,288,347,000 after buying an additional 895,884 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Bank of America by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,354,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,530,241,000 after buying an additional 165,070 shares during the period. Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 21,465,791 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $813,983,000 after buying an additional 954,885 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 23.6% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 16,260,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $646,693,000 after buying an additional 3,109,197 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Piper Sandler Companies raised shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.69.

Bank of America Stock Down 1.2 %

BAC stock opened at $41.82 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $40.50 and a 200 day moving average of $39.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $320.88 billion, a PE ratio of 15.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $25.72 and a 52 week high of $44.44.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 37.82%.

Bank of America declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

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 approximately $402,577.37. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 approximately $402,577.37. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 2,305,415 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.27, for a total transaction of $90,533,647.05. Following the sale, the insider now owns 812,041,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,888,881,917.97. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 113,078,718 shares of company stock worth $4,548,920,425. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.