Chapin Davis Inc. Lowers Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Chapin Davis Inc. trimmed its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 49,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 258 shares during the period. Chapin Davis Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,977,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ethos Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 8,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $285,000 after acquiring an additional 492 shares in the last quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 234.5% during the 4th quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC now owns 27,356 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $921,000 after purchasing an additional 19,179 shares in the last quarter. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth $105,000. Concord Wealth Partners lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Concord Wealth Partners now owns 55,259 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,861,000 after buying an additional 5,103 shares during the period. Finally, Barometer Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at $2,175,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BAC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Bank of America from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.07.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE BAC traded up $0.31 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $39.34. 26,886,616 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 39,278,254. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $24.96 and a twelve month high of $44.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $307.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.61, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $25.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.22 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. The company’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a $0.26 dividend. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 35.99%.

Bank of America announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total transaction of $530,145,635.91. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 998,961,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,085,191,337.27. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total value of $530,145,635.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 998,961,079 shares in the company, valued at $43,085,191,337.27. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 56,549,666 shares of company stock valued at $2,403,801,723. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.