Confluence Wealth Services Inc. Raises Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Confluence Wealth Services Inc. lifted its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 11.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,076 shares during the quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $797,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,734,407,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 36,124,363 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 360.9% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 37,290,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,255,514,000 after acquiring an additional 29,198,846 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 104,030,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,502,720,000 after acquiring an additional 9,879,524 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 959.6% in the second quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 9,327,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $370,948,000 after acquiring an additional 8,447,091 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BAC has been the topic of several research reports. Piper Sandler Companies upgraded 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. StockNews.com raised Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Bank of America from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.07.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the 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 owns 998,961,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,085,191,337.27. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 99,609,567 shares of company stock worth $4,122,483,669. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE BAC traded up $0.58 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $40.75. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 49,098,180 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,242,408. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $316.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.35. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.30. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $24.96 and a 1 year high of $44.44.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.22%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback 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.