Vontobel Holding Ltd. Decreases Holdings in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Vontobel Holding Ltd. cut its stake in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 15.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 212,238 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 39,695 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $10,043,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its stake in Bank of America by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 333,206 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,767,000 after buying an additional 21,803 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 2nd quarter valued at $3,371,000. Fluent Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,474,000. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 8.0% during the 2nd quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 9,413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $445,000 after acquiring an additional 698 shares during the period. Finally, Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 11.1% during the 2nd quarter. Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. now owns 17,857 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $845,000 after acquiring an additional 1,791 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $49.71 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $368.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a fifty day moving average of $49.55 and a 200 day moving average of $45.46. Bank of America Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $33.06 and a fifty-two week high of $52.88.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.81% and a return on equity of 10.25%. The business had revenue of ($22,273.00) million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.83 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 32.75%.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Twenty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.11.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $10,180,656.99. This represents a 39.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.