Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC Acquires 981 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 14.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,720 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 981 shares during the period. Walkner Condon Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $307,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth about $3,734,407,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Bank of America by 5.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,437,936,000 after purchasing an additional 36,124,363 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its stake in Bank of America by 360.9% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 37,290,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,255,514,000 after buying an additional 29,198,846 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 104,030,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,502,720,000 after buying an additional 9,879,524 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 959.6% during the 2nd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 9,327,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $370,948,000 after acquiring an additional 8,447,091 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on BAC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 target price (up previously from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.07.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total value of $559,278,840.51. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,020,161,313 shares in the company, valued at $44,958,509,063.91. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total value of $559,278,840.51. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,020,161,313 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,958,509,063.91. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $402,355.91. Following the sale, the insider now owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 84,497,793 shares of company stock valued at $3,513,542,556 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE:BAC traded up $0.28 on Wednesday, reaching $39.95. 40,363,629 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 39,217,676. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a market capitalization of $312.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.82, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.35. Bank of America Co. has a 12 month low of $24.96 and a 12 month high of $44.44. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.19.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $25.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.22 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.99%.

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

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.