Aberdeen Group plc Sells 421,941 Shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC)

Aberdeen Group plc decreased its stake in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 7.1% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,542,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 421,941 shares during the quarter. Aberdeen Group plc’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $229,000,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BAC. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Bank of America by 23.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 88,210,527 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,876,853,000 after purchasing an additional 17,031,143 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 45.1% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 48,112,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,007,718,000 after acquiring an additional 14,960,086 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 122,437,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,381,126,000 after acquiring an additional 11,691,451 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,935,940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,985,785,000 after acquiring an additional 9,980,859 shares during the period. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 31.1% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 39,051,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,716,318,000 after acquiring an additional 9,258,040 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BAC. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $46.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $53.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.13.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE BAC opened at $47.68 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $353.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.94, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.31. Bank of America Corporation has a twelve month low of $33.06 and a twelve month high of $49.31. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.03. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 14.81%. The business had revenue of ($22,273.00) million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.83 earnings per share. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.41%.

Bank of America declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bank of America news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total transaction of $6,762,177.87. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,180,656.99. This trade represents a 39.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.30% 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.