Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV Grows Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 7.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 164,361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,612 shares during the quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $6,522,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Bank of America by 5.9% during the 1st 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 period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,288,347,000 after buying an additional 895,884 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,354,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,530,241,000 after buying an additional 165,070 shares during the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Bank of America by 4.7% during the first quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 21,465,791 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $813,983,000 after acquiring an additional 954,885 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in Bank of America by 23.6% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 16,260,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $646,693,000 after acquiring an additional 3,109,197 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on BAC shares. Piper Sandler Companies upgraded Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays boosted their price target on Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.69.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $42.15 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $323.41 billion, a PE ratio of 15.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.33. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $40.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $26.59 and a twelve month high of $44.44.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.47%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan 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 buy up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total value of $369,952,591.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 766,305,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total transaction of $369,952,591.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 766,305,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,606,297,408.10. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 113,078,718 shares of company stock worth $4,548,920,425 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.