Sierra Summit Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Sierra Summit Advisors LLC grew its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 136.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,314 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,714 shares during the period. Sierra Summit Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $808,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 402.2% in the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 547 shares during the period. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 839.0% during the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 646 shares during the period. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in Bank of America in the first quarter valued at about $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised 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 reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective (up previously from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised 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 report on Tuesday, July 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.22.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $38.65 on Monday. 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 company has a market cap of $299.91 billion, a PE ratio of 13.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.74. 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, topping 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 company earned $0.88 EPS. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors 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 2.69%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is 35.99%.

Bank of America announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total transaction of $530,145,635.91. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 998,961,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,085,191,337.27. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 12,291,807 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total value of $530,145,635.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 998,961,079 shares in the company, valued at $43,085,191,337.27. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 114,391,986 shares of company stock valued at $4,719,796,383. 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.