MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. Cuts Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 4.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,327 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 782 shares during the period. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $729,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Bank of America by 5.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 36,124,363 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Bank of America by 10.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 9,879,524 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Bank of America by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,288,347,000 after purchasing an additional 895,884 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Bank of America by 0.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 165,070 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 5,488,790 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 998,961,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,085,191,337.27. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 998,961,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,085,191,337.27. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of Bank of America 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 140,942,405 shares of company stock valued at $5,785,202,516 over the last three months. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BAC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler Companies raised Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Piper Sandler raised 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 research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target (up previously from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned 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, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.22.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $39.40 on Friday. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $24.96 and a twelve month high of $44.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $308.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.63, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $39.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.02.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued 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 return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. The firm had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 yield of 2.64%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.99%.

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.