Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC Lowers Stake in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 19.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 34,110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,488 shares during the period. Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,614,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 30.0% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 108,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,785,000 after buying an additional 25,143 shares during the period. Impact Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 5.1% in the first quarter. Impact Capital Partners LLC now owns 9,606 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $401,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Bank of America by 8.8% during the first quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 15,227 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $635,000 after purchasing an additional 1,230 shares during the last quarter. Perennial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America during the first quarter worth approximately $360,000. Finally, Charter Oak Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Bank of America by 6.5% during the first quarter. Charter Oak Capital Management LLC now owns 6,379 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE:BAC opened at $50.63 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $374.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Corporation has a one year low of $33.06 and a one year high of $52.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.80. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.30.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.03. The company had revenue of ($22,273.00) million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.79 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 14.81%.Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.83 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a $0.28 dividend. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.75%.

Bank of America declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on BAC. TD Cowen upped their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Baird R W downgraded Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. HSBC raised their price objective on Bank of America from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Bank of America from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.38.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of America news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total transaction of $6,762,177.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 223,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,180,656.99. This trade represents a 39.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Bank of America 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.