Bank of America Corporation $BAC Holdings Decreased by Ensign Peak Advisors Inc

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc trimmed its stake in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 14.2% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,265,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,203,191 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $343,816,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Forge First Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the second quarter valued at $4,870,000. Empirical Finance LLC raised its position in Bank of America by 0.6% in the second quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 242,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,476,000 after acquiring an additional 1,436 shares in the last quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC now owns 964,530 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,642,000 after acquiring an additional 8,355 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Wealth LLC. boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Nicholas Wealth LLC. now owns 29,086 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,376,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intrepid Financial Planning Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Intrepid Financial Planning Group LLC now owns 24,648 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,166,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.8%

BAC opened at $52.04 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $379.99 billion, a PE ratio of 14.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a 50-day moving average of $51.73 and a 200-day moving average of $48.29. Bank of America Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $33.06 and a fifty-two week high of $54.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $5.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.05 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 15.70% and a return on equity of 10.76%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.81 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 26th. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.52%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on BAC shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Bank of America from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $57.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Dbs Bank raised shares of Bank of America to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Twenty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.77.

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.