First National Trust Co Trims Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

First National Trust Co cut its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 2.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 184,927 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,548 shares during the period. First National Trust Co’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $7,355,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 402.2% in the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares during the period. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 839.0% in the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares during the last quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Price Performance

NYSE BAC opened at $40.71 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $318.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.35. 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.

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

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

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a $0.26 dividend. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 7,938,699 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.61, for a total transaction of $322,390,566.39. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 882,723,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,847,417,700.83. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of Bank of America 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 owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,824,063.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 7,938,699 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.61, for a total transaction of $322,390,566.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 882,723,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,847,417,700.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 99,609,567 shares of company stock worth $4,122,483,669 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on BAC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued 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 note on Wednesday, July 17th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.22.

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.