Legal & General Group Plc Purchases 895,884 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 895,884 shares during the period. Bank of America makes up about 0.5% of Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.74% of Bank of America worth $2,288,347,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 402.2% in the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 547 shares in the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of America in the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $39.52 on Friday. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $24.96 and a 1 year high of $44.44. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $39.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.97. The company has a market cap of $309.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.67, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The company 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current 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 company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This is an increase 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.63%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.99%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total transaction of $559,278,840.51. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,020,161,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,958,509,063.91. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was 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 directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 134,721,864 shares of company stock valued at $5,539,943,089. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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 boosted their price objective for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Piper Sandler Companies raised shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. One equities 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.