Sanders Capital LLC Trims Holdings in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Sanders Capital LLC decreased its position in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 3.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 47,162,420 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,688,270 shares during the quarter. Bank of America accounts for approximately 3.0% of Sanders Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Sanders Capital LLC owned 0.64% of Bank of America worth $2,231,726,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Bank of America by 0.3% during the 2nd 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 acquiring an additional 403,652 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 45.1% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 48,112,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,007,718,000 after purchasing an additional 14,960,086 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position in Bank of America by 3.7% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 39,233,293 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,637,205,000 after purchasing an additional 1,413,313 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Bank of America by 0.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 31,956,699 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,333,351,000 after purchasing an additional 188,638 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 5.7% in the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 16,562,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $783,759,000 after purchasing an additional 894,027 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of BAC stock opened at $52.57 on Friday. Bank of America Corporation has a 1-year low of $33.06 and a 1-year high of $54.69. The company has a market cap of $383.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.32, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.05.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $5.35 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 firm’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.81 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Seaport Global Securities raised their target price on Bank of America from $59.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Bank of America from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 price objective (up previously from $57.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Twenty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.