Lazari Capital Management Inc. Acquires 1,368 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Lazari Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 104,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,368 shares during the quarter. Bank of America makes up 1.9% of Lazari Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Lazari Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $4,164,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Clear Rock Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 3.7% during the second quarter. Clear Rock Advisors LLC now owns 85,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,381,000 after buying an additional 3,027 shares during the period. Brown Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 2nd quarter worth $1,589,000. RiverFront Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. RiverFront Investment Group LLC now owns 15,610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $621,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL boosted its position in Bank of America by 0.8% during the second quarter. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL now owns 83,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,329,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Bank of America in the second quarter worth about $785,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $44,958,509,063.91. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total value of $559,278,840.51. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,020,161,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,958,509,063.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 140,942,405 shares of company stock worth $5,785,202,516 over the last quarter. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Piper Sandler raised shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays raised their price objective on Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.12.

Bank of America Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $39.23 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $39.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.09. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $24.96 and a 1 year high of $44.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $306.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.04. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The business had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback 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 often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.65%. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.99%.

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.