Bank of America Corporation $BAC Stake Reduced by Gamco Investors INC. ET AL

Key Points

• Gamco Investors INC. ET AL has reduced its stake in Bank of America Corporation by 5.5%, holding 567,212 shares valued at approximately $23.67 million after selling 32,860 shares.
• Bank of America has declared a quarterly dividend increase to $0.28 per share, representing a yield of 2.3% and a payout ratio of 30.41%.
• The company is also implementing a $40 billion share buyback plan, indicating that its board believes the stock is currently undervalued.

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL reduced its stake in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 5.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 567,212 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 32,860 shares during the quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL's holdings in Bank of America were worth $23,670,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 45.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 14,960,086 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 17.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 9,980,859 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 31.1% in 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 purchasing an additional 9,258,040 shares in the last quarter. Theleme Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth $263,449,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 45,092,517 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,981,816,000 after purchasing an additional 5,092,504 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $49.53 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $47.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.82. The company has a market cap of $366.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 1.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Bank of America Corporation has a 1 year low of $33.06 and a 1 year high of $49.66.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of ($22,273.00) million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.79 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.83 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

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

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan 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 buy up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Phillip Securities cut Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Bank of America from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Bank of America from $46.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $52.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Cowen began coverage on Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Seventeen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $50.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the firm's 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 of the company's stock, valued at $10,180,656.99. This trade represents a 39.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Bank of America Company 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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