Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co Sells 2,715 Shares of Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co lowered its stake in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 5.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 44,272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,715 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,847,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of BAC. Continuum Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 16,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $734,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.9% during the first quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 12,567 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $524,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 20,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $906,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Maia Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.4% during the first quarter. Maia Wealth LLC now owns 17,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $723,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Financial Advisors Inc increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.8% during the first quarter. Northern Financial Advisors Inc now owns 14,383 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $600,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on BAC. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Bank of America from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Bank of America from $46.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Truist Financial upped their price target on Bank of America from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Bank of America from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $52.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.39.

Bank of America Trading Down 1.8%

BAC opened at $49.69 on Monday. Bank of America Corporation has a one year low of $33.06 and a one year high of $50.92. The company has a market cap of $368.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.53, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.80. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $47.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.07.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.03. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 14.81%.The business had revenue of ($22,273.00) million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.79 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.83 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a $0.28 dividend. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 32.75%.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total value of $6,762,177.87. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 223,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,180,656.99. This represents a 39.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.