Brighton Jones LLC Cuts Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Brighton Jones LLC reduced its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 0.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 89,855 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 450 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $3,574,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Bank of America by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,437,936,000 after buying an additional 36,124,363 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Bank of America by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 104,030,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,502,720,000 after buying an additional 9,879,524 shares during the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC now owns 40,508,709 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,363,928,000 after buying an additional 2,935,040 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Bank of America by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,354,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,530,241,000 after buying an additional 165,070 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 37,654,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,267,820,000 after buying an additional 5,488,790 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total transaction of $530,145,635.91. Following the sale, the insider now owns 998,961,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,085,191,337.27. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total value of $530,145,635.91. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 998,961,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,085,191,337.27. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 129,780,724 shares of company stock valued at $5,342,589,705 in the last 90 days. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on BAC shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.22.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC stock opened at $40.87 on Friday. Bank of America Co. has a one year low of $24.96 and a one year high of $44.44. The company’s 50-day moving average is $40.01 and its 200 day moving average is $38.82. The company has a market capitalization of $319.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.22 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.99%.

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.