Diligent Investors LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Key Points

• Diligent Investors LLC reduced its stake in Bank of America Corporation by 8.2%, now holding 62,037 shares valued at approximately $2.936 million.
• Bank of America reported $0.89 earnings per share for its latest quarter, exceeding expectations, and announced a $40 billion stock buyback plan.
• The company increased its quarterly dividend to $0.28 per share, reflecting a positive change from the previous dividend of $0.26.

Diligent Investors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 62,037 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 5,552 shares during the quarter. Bank of America comprises approximately 0.7% of Diligent Investors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Diligent Investors LLC's holdings in Bank of America were worth $2,936,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. lifted its position in Bank of America by 121.0% during the first quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 62,041 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,589,000 after buying an additional 33,963 shares during the period. Prosperity Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Bank of America during the first quarter worth about $998,000. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC lifted its position in Bank of America by 37.2% during the first quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 65,038 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,714,000 after buying an additional 17,619 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 170.5% during the first quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 238,473 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $9,951,000 after acquiring an additional 150,299 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commerce Bank increased its stake in Bank of America by 2.3% during the first quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 1,124,755 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $46,936,000 after acquiring an additional 25,618 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $50.63 on Friday. Bank of America Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $33.06 and a fifty-two week high of $52.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The firm has a market cap of $374.98 billion, a PE ratio of 14.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.33. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $49.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $45.26.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of ($22,273.00) million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $26.79 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.81% and a return on equity of 10.25%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.83 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were issued a $0.28 dividend. This is a positive change from Bank of America's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.75%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at $10,180,656.99. This trade represents a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BAC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. TD Cowen upped their price target on Bank of America from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Bank of America from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Bank of America from $50.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Baird R W lowered Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Nineteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $53.38.

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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