First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Grows Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 209,488 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,492 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $8,313,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BAC. McAdam LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 11,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $455,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the period. Integrity Financial Corp WA grew its stake in Bank of America by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Integrity Financial Corp WA now owns 14,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $590,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Bank of America by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,248 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $805,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. grew its stake in Bank of America by 15.1% during the 2nd quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SNS Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. SNS Financial Group LLC now owns 7,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $310,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on BAC. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Cfra reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $39.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Barclays boosted their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.69.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Bank of America stock traded up $0.04 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $42.57. The stock had a trading volume of 16,843,014 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,392,852. The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $39.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a market cap of $330.33 billion, a PE ratio of 15.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $25.72 and a fifty-two week high of $44.44.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total value of $465,811,996.80. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 835,908,435 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,088,345,979.30. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total value of $465,811,996.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 835,908,435 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,088,345,979.30. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 113,078,718 shares of company stock worth $4,548,920,425. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.