Hodges Capital Management Inc. Sells 31,878 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Hodges Capital Management Inc. cut its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 22.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 109,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 31,878 shares during the quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $4,358,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Bank of America by 402.2% in the 1st 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 during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its position in Bank of America by 839.0% during the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares during the period. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the first quarter worth about $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.4 %

Bank of America stock traded up $0.15 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $40.85. The stock had a trading volume of 2,354,557 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,087,840. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $24.96 and a twelve month high of $44.44. The firm has a market cap of $319.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.09, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.35.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.04. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The business had revenue of $25.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.99%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bank of America 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 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,958,509,063.91. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total transaction of $3,661,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the insider now owns 1,020,161,313 shares in the company, valued at $44,958,509,063.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 99,609,567 shares of company stock valued at $4,122,483,669 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BAC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Cfra restated a “sell” rating and set a $39.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Piper Sandler Companies raised shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.22.

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.