Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC Has $3.29 Million Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 82,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,700 shares during the quarter. Bank of America accounts for approximately 0.7% of Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $3,292,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ethos Financial Group LLC raised its stake in Bank of America by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 8,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $285,000 after buying an additional 492 shares during the period. Barometer Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth about $2,175,000. IMA Wealth Inc. bought a new position in Bank of America during the 1st quarter worth about $1,453,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Bank of America by 149.9% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 21,247 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $715,000 after purchasing an additional 12,744 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parnassus Investments LLC increased its holdings in Bank of America by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 40,508,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,363,928,000 after purchasing an additional 2,935,040 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BAC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Bank of America from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. One equities 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.07.

Bank of America Trading Up 1.4 %

Bank of America stock opened at $40.75 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.30. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $316.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.10, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.35. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $24.96 and a 52 week high of $44.44.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.04. The firm 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 earnings per share 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.55%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.22%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bank of America news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were 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 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 sold 99,609,567 shares of company stock worth $4,122,483,669 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.