Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) Shares Sold by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System trimmed its holdings in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 13.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 311,403 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 47,604 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $12,995,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Bank of America by 10.1% in the 1st quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC now owns 20,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $840,000 after acquiring an additional 1,853 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 45.1% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 48,112,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,007,718,000 after purchasing an additional 14,960,086 shares during the last quarter. Evolution Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 1st quarter worth about $829,000. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 1st quarter worth about $31,180,000. Finally, Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 121.0% during the first quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 62,041 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,589,000 after buying an additional 33,963 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE BAC opened at $45.44 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.79. Bank of America Corporation has a 52 week low of $33.06 and a 52 week high of $49.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. The stock has a market cap of $336.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.29, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.31.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.03. The business had revenue of ($22,273.00) million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.79 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.81% and a return on equity of 10.25%. The business’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.83 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that allows the company to buyback $40.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 30.41%.

Insider Activity

In other Bank of America news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total transaction of $6,762,177.87. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at $10,180,656.99. The trade was a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BAC. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $53.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Phillip Securities cut shares of Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $46.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 10th. Finally, Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seventeen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.13.

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.