Bank of America Corporation $BAC Shares Sold by Heritage Financial Services LLC

Heritage Financial Services LLC trimmed its position in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 9.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,618 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 724 shares during the period. Heritage Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $313,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Madrona Financial Services LLC boosted its position in Bank of America by 14.6% in the 2nd quarter. Madrona Financial Services LLC now owns 6,467 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $306,000 after buying an additional 822 shares during the last quarter. Parkwoods Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the second quarter worth about $244,000. Trilogy Capital Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 66.4% in the second quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 12,205 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $578,000 after acquiring an additional 4,869 shares in the last quarter. QTR Family Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 27.9% in the second quarter. QTR Family Wealth LLC now owns 13,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $631,000 after purchasing an additional 2,910 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Panoramic Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Bank of America during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $216,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total transaction of $6,762,177.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,180,656.99. This represents a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BAC. Oppenheimer cut their target price on Bank of America from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Phillip Securities downgraded Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Seventeen equities 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, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.78.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC opened at $50.67 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $49.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.13. Bank of America Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $33.06 and a fifty-two week high of $52.88. The firm has a market cap of $375.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.83 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.75%.

Bank of America Company 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.