Bank of America Corporation $BAC Position Cut by Hobbs Group Advisors LLC

Hobbs Group Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 3.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 27,801 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,081 shares during the quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,316,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 108,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,785,000 after purchasing an additional 25,143 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 111,527 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,654,000 after purchasing an additional 8,435 shares in the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 59,491 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,483,000 after purchasing an additional 7,306 shares in the last quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 18.3% during the 1st quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 39,982 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,668,000 after purchasing an additional 6,194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 35.2% during the 1st quarter. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,181 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $216,000 after purchasing an additional 1,348 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on BAC shares. Hsbc Global Res lowered Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Bank of America from $50.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Phillip Securities lowered Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $52.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Bank of America from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Twenty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.64.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total value of $6,762,177.87. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at $10,180,656.99. This represents a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC opened at $48.62 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $49.61 and a 200-day moving average of $45.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $360.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.22, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Corporation has a 12-month low of $33.06 and a 12-month high of $52.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.03. The company had revenue of ($22,273.00) million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.79 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 14.81%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.83 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.75%.

Bank of America announced that its board has initiated a share buyback 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 buy up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.