Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Buys 6,385 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 97,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,385 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $3,887,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. McAdam LLC boosted its position in Bank of America by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 11,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $455,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Bank of America by 1.2% in the second quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,248 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $805,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 15.1% during the second quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. SNS Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 3.3% during the second quarter. SNS Financial Group LLC now owns 7,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $310,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 94,081 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,742,000 after buying an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $40.27 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $24.96 and a 12-month high of $44.44. The business has a 50 day moving average of $39.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.88. The company has a market capitalization of $314.93 billion, a PE ratio of 13.93, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted 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 firm had revenue of $25.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. The business’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 35.99%.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price (up from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. StockNews.com raised Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler Companies upgraded Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 value 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,020,161,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,958,509,063.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the business’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 sale, the insider now owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,824,063.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 129,780,724 shares of company stock worth $5,342,589,705. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.