Affinity Capital Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Affinity Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 8.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,505 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 588 shares during the period. Affinity Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $298,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brio Consultants LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at about $227,000. Gilbert & Cook Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 17,388 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $585,000 after purchasing an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Rollins Financial increased its stake in Bank of America by 12.5% during the 4th quarter. Rollins Financial now owns 441,919 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,879,000 after buying an additional 48,998 shares during the period. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 44.4% during the 4th quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 11,664 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $393,000 after buying an additional 3,585 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hilltop Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 53.8% during the 4th quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 33,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,130,000 after buying an additional 11,745 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction 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 owns 1,020,161,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,958,509,063.91. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Bank of America news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total transaction of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at $3,824,063.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of Bank of America 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,020,161,313 shares in the company, valued at $44,958,509,063.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 134,722,127 shares of company stock worth $5,539,949,341. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Bank of America Price Performance

Bank of America stock opened at $39.45 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.97. Bank of America Co. has a 12 month low of $24.96 and a 12 month 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 has a market capitalization of $306.12 billion, a PE ratio of 13.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.22 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.64%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.99%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI lifted 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. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective 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. Barclays upped 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. StockNews.com raised Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies upgraded shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock 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 given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.22.

Bank of America Company 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.