Montchanin Asset Management LLC Trims Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Montchanin Asset Management LLC cut its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 11.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,500 shares during the quarter. Montchanin Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $481,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE boosted its stake in Bank of America by 5.0% during the second quarter. Smithbridge Asset Management Inc. DE now owns 11,012 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $438,000 after buying an additional 523 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 2.9% during the second quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 13,265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $528,000 after buying an additional 368 shares during the period. Calton & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in Bank of America by 2.3% during the second quarter. Calton & Associates Inc. now owns 20,736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $825,000 after buying an additional 459 shares during the period. MBL Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 8.1% during the second quarter. MBL Wealth LLC now owns 16,552 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $658,000 after buying an additional 1,234 shares during the period. Finally, Boomfish Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 1.0% during the second quarter. Boomfish Wealth Group LLC now owns 38,058 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,514,000 after buying an additional 376 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of BAC traded up $0.31 on Friday, reaching $39.34. The stock had a trading volume of 26,886,616 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,278,254. The firm has a market capitalization of $307.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.86. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $24.96 and a 12-month high of $44.44.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $25.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.22 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback 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 buy up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.99%.

Insider Activity

In other Bank of America 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 transaction of $559,278,840.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now 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 this link. In other Bank of America 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 transaction of $559,278,840.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now 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 this link. Also, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of Bank of America 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 transaction, the insider now owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,549,666 shares of company stock worth $2,403,801,723 in the last quarter. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on BAC shares. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price 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 upgraded shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Piper Sandler Companies upgraded Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Bank of America from $39.50 to $40.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.07.

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.