Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Cuts Holdings in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC)

Key Points

• Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Bank of America shares by 3.1% in the first quarter, owning 283,691 shares valued at approximately $11.84 million.
• Bank of America recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.28 per share, which is an increase from the previous $0.26, reflecting a dividend yield of 2.31%.
• The company's board has authorized a $40 billion stock repurchase plan, representing a belief that Bank of America's stock is currently undervalued.

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 3.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 283,691 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 8,955 shares during the quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC's holdings in Bank of America were worth $11,838,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Graney & King LLC bought a new position in Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Vega Investment Solutions purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Spurstone Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc raised its stake in Bank of America by 53.0% during the 4th quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 797 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Bank of America from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Bank of America from $57.00 to $55.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Bank of America from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on Bank of America from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $50.03.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:BAC traded up $0.08 during trading on Friday, reaching $48.47. The company's stock had a trading volume of 24,453,044 shares, compared to its average volume of 43,373,284. 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 12 month low of $33.06 and a 12 month high of $49.31. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $45.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $365.09 billion, a PE ratio of 14.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.30.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 14.81% and a return on equity of 10.25%. The company had revenue of ($22,273.00) million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.79 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.83 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a $0.28 dividend. This is a positive change from Bank of America's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio is 30.41%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has approved 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 repurchase up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.