Bank of America Corporation $BAC Shares Sold by D Orazio & Associates Inc.

D Orazio & Associates Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 40.3% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,393 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,971 shares during the quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $208,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. ABN Amro Investment Solutions purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the 2nd quarter worth about $69,994,000. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 7.4% during the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 1,041,114 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $49,266,000 after buying an additional 72,058 shares in the last quarter. Renasant Bank grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 146.5% during the second quarter. Renasant Bank now owns 20,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $980,000 after buying an additional 12,311 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 0.3% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 148,176,755 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,982,863,000 after buying an additional 403,652 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ABC Arbitrage SA purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,566,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC stock opened at $52.92 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $386.45 billion, a PE ratio of 14.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.34. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $51.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.90. Bank of America Corporation has a 12-month low of $33.06 and a 12-month high of $54.69.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.13. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.76% and a net margin of 15.70%.The business had revenue of $5.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.81 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 30.52%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on BAC. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Erste Group Bank raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Bank of America from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. HSBC raised their price target on Bank of America from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Twenty-three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.86.

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.