Bessemer Group Inc. Sells 42,546 Shares of Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Bessemer Group Inc. reduced its stake in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 0.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,182,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 42,546 shares during the quarter. Bank of America comprises approximately 1.2% of Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. Bessemer Group Inc. owned 0.20% of Bank of America worth $718,417,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nova Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 75.2% in the 2nd quarter. Nova Wealth Management Inc. now owns 529 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. RMG Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. CGC Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 585.4% in the 2nd quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 521 shares during the last quarter. Acima Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Cloud Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America in the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 owned 223,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,180,656.99. The trade was a 39.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $52.44 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $388.38 billion, a PE ratio of 14.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.45. Bank of America Corporation has a 1-year low of $33.06 and a 1-year high of $52.88.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $28.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.05 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 15.70% and a return on equity of 10.76%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.81 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 30.52%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BAC. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Twenty-three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.23.

About Bank of America

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.