Samlyn Capital LLC Buys Shares of 1,846,625 Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Samlyn Capital LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,846,625 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $73,440,000. Bank of America comprises about 1.2% of Samlyn Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 547 shares during the last quarter. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 646 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total value of $559,278,840.51. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,020,161,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,958,509,063.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total value of $559,278,840.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,020,161,313 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,958,509,063.91. 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 quarter. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of BAC opened at $39.88 on Tuesday. 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 Co. has a one year low of $24.96 and a one year high of $44.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $311.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.80, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $39.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.94.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $25.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.22 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business 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 a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BAC. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Barclays boosted their price target on Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock 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.