Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Lowers Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board cut its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 24.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,913,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,612,594 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board owned 0.14% of Bank of America worth $434,029,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 402.2% during the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares in the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 839.0% during the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America during the second quarter valued at $30,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 998,961,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,085,191,337.27. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total transaction of $530,145,635.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 998,961,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,085,191,337.27. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 129,780,724 shares of company stock valued at $5,342,589,705. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $40.87 on Friday. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $24.96 and a 1-year high of $44.44. The stock has a market cap of $319.62 billion, a PE ratio of 14.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick 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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The business had revenue of $25.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.22 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Cfra reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $39.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of America presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.22.

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.