Natixis Advisors LLC Sells 61,523 Shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC)

Natixis Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 1.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,412,142 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 61,523 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC owned 0.09% of Bank of America worth $267,578,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 30.0% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 108,872 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,785,000 after purchasing an additional 25,143 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 35.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 860,005 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $37,797,000 after purchasing an additional 226,246 shares during the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 86.9% during the fourth quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 80,126 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,522,000 after purchasing an additional 37,263 shares during the last quarter. StoneX Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 26.3% during the fourth quarter. StoneX Group Inc. now owns 30,519 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,341,000 after purchasing an additional 6,363 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nemes Rush Group LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 23.4% during the fourth quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 4,707 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $207,000 after purchasing an additional 894 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on BAC shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $46.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. HSBC downgraded shares of Bank of America from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $47.00 to $51.00 in a report on Monday, July 7th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Bank of America from $58.00 to $54.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Bank of America from $49.50 to $43.50 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Baird R W downgraded shares of Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $50.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total value of $6,762,177.87. Following the sale, the insider 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Bank of America Price Performance

NYSE BAC traded down $1.62 on Friday, reaching $45.65. 52,302,841 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 43,054,445. Bank of America Corporation has a 12 month low of $33.06 and a 12 month high of $49.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.81. The stock has a market cap of $343.83 billion, a PE ratio of 13.35, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.30.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of ($22,273.00) million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.79 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 14.81%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.83 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. This is an increase from Bank of America's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.41%.

Bank of America announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.