Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY Reduces Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY lowered its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 63,265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,149 shares during the quarter. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $2,516,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Barometer Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth $2,175,000. IMA Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,453,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Bank of America by 149.9% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 21,247 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $715,000 after purchasing an additional 12,744 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC grew its stake in Bank of America by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 40,508,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,363,928,000 after purchasing an additional 2,935,040 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vise Technologies Inc. grew its stake in Bank of America by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 59,764 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,012,000 after purchasing an additional 6,416 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Down 2.8 %

NYSE:BAC traded down $1.11 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $38.76. The company had a trading volume of 47,007,588 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,322,148. The firm has a market capitalization of $303.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.41, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.35. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.49. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $24.96 and a 12-month high of $44.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. The firm had revenue of $25.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.22 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. Bank of America’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $402,355.91. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other Bank of America news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $402,355.91. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of Bank of America 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 sale, the insider now owns 998,961,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,085,191,337.27. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 112,670,620 shares of company stock worth $4,651,681,930 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on BAC shares. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler upgraded Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Bank of America from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target (up previously from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.22.

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.