Bank of America Corporation $BAC Shares Sold by Sapient Capital LLC

Sapient Capital LLC decreased its stake in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,610,422 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 21,988 shares during the period. Bank of America makes up 1.4% of Sapient Capital LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Sapient Capital LLC's holdings in Bank of America were worth $76,205,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Nova Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 75.2% in the second quarter. Nova Wealth Management Inc. now owns 529 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the period. Vega Investment Solutions acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Cloud Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America during the first quarter worth about $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Bank of America Price Performance

Bank of America stock opened at $50.68 on Wednesday. Bank of America Corporation has a 1 year low of $33.06 and a 1 year high of $51.09. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $48.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.36. The company has a market cap of $375.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.82, a PEG ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.03. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.81% and a return on equity of 10.25%. The firm 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 previous year, the firm earned $0.83 earnings per share. Bank of America's revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, July 23rd that allows the company to buyback $40.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is an increase 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 is Friday, September 5th. Bank of America's payout ratio is presently 32.75%.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider directly owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at $10,180,656.99. The trade was a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BAC. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $53.00 target price on shares of Bank of America and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Robert W. Baird restated a "neutral" rating and set a $52.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Friday, June 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $46.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $50.61.

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.

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