Front Street Capital Management Inc. Has $4.23 Million Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Front Street Capital Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 11.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 109,498 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 14,800 shares during the quarter. Front Street Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $4,230,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 5.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,437,936,000 after purchasing an additional 36,124,363 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Bank of America by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 104,030,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,502,720,000 after acquiring an additional 9,879,524 shares in the last quarter. Parnassus Investments LLC raised its stake in Bank of America by 7.8% in the fourth 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 period. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Bank of America by 0.4% in the first 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 period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 17.1% in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC stock opened at $39.88 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $39.94 and a 200-day moving average of $38.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Bank of America Co. has a 12 month low of $24.96 and a 12 month high of $44.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $311.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.22 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.61%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 35.99%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $43,085,191,337.27. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total value of $530,145,635.91. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 998,961,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,085,191,337.27. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at $3,824,063.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 129,780,724 shares of company stock worth $5,342,589,705. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BAC. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Cfra reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $39.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price (up from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.22.

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.