Bank of America Corporation $BAC Shares Sold by Check Capital Management Inc. CA

Check Capital Management Inc. CA cut its holdings in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 84.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,032 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 67,705 shares during the quarter. Check Capital Management Inc. CA's holdings in Bank of America were worth $587,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bryn Mawr Trust Advisors LLC increased its position in Bank of America by 27.1% during the first quarter. Bryn Mawr Trust Advisors LLC now owns 26,145 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,275,000 after purchasing an additional 5,572 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 225,269 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $10,982,000 after purchasing an additional 6,398 shares during the last quarter. TFR Capital LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. TFR Capital LLC. now owns 21,613 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,054,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 14,412,163 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $702,593,000 after buying an additional 483,564 shares during the period. Finally, Citizens National Bank Trust Department grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Citizens National Bank Trust Department now owns 14,531 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $708,000 after buying an additional 762 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Evercore set a $63.00 target price on Bank of America and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Bank of America from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Citigroup increased their target price on Bank of America from $62.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded Bank of America from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $62.19.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Bank of America stock opened at $59.49 on Tuesday. Bank of America Corporation has a 12-month low of $44.75 and a 12-month high of $60.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $422.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.17. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $54.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.98.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $30.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $29.72 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.49%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Bank of America Corporation will post 4.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th were issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 5th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.72%.

Bank of America News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Bank of America this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America expanded its regional investment banking business by hiring nine senior bankers across major U.S. markets, a move that should strengthen its middle-market coverage and support fee growth over time. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Several previews suggest Bank of America could benefit from strong trading, investment banking, and wealth-management activity, with analysts expecting a broadly favorable second-quarter bank earnings season. Investor's Business Daily article
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America’s own consumer data showed strong June card spending and wage gains, reinforcing the view that its retail banking base remains resilient heading into earnings. Yahoo Finance article
• Positive Sentiment: Valuation screens highlighted BAC as the most attractive of the major banks, which may be helping support the stock as investors look for a relative-value play ahead of results. 247WallSt article

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of America news, insider Geoffrey S. Greener sold 126,756 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.01, for a total transaction of $6,719,335.56. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 1,373,397 shares in the company, valued at $72,803,774.97. This trade represents a 8.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company's stock.

About Bank of America

Bank of America Corporation is a multinational financial services company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It provides a broad array of banking, investment, asset management and related financial and risk management products and services to individual consumers, small- and middle-market businesses, large corporations, governments and institutional investors. The firm operates through consumer banking, global wealth and investment management, global banking and markets businesses, offering capabilities across lending, deposits, payments, advisory and capital markets.

Its consumer-facing offerings include checking and savings accounts, mortgages, home equity lending, auto loans, credit cards and small business banking, supported by a nationwide branch network and digital channels.

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