Ceeto Capital Group LLC Lowers Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Ceeto Capital Group LLC cut its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 51,870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. Ceeto Capital Group LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,967,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 402.2% in the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 547 shares in the last quarter. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in Bank of America during the first quarter worth about $33,000. Clearstead Trust LLC increased its position in Bank of America by 1,489.3% during the first quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 890 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 834 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of Bank of America stock traded down $0.01 during trading on Friday, reaching $41.67. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 52,049,329 shares, compared to its average volume of 36,797,552. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $40.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.27. The firm has a market cap of $325.87 billion, a PE ratio of 14.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.35. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $24.96 and a fifty-two week 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 announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.22 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America declared that its board has authorized a share buyback 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 purchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 35.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 998,961,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,085,191,337.27. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In the last three months, insiders have sold 36,753,983 shares of company stock valued at $1,588,489,324. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on BAC. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.92.

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.