Ethos Financial Group LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Ethos Financial Group LLC cut its holdings in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 52.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 23,150 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 25,448 shares during the quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,095,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BAC. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 30.0% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 108,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,785,000 after purchasing an additional 25,143 shares in the last quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Bank of America by 5.4% in the 1st quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,808 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $701,000 after buying an additional 857 shares in the last quarter. Rogco LP boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 15.4% in the 1st quarter. Rogco LP now owns 22,623 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $944,000 after buying an additional 3,012 shares during the last quarter. tru Independence LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. tru Independence LLC now owns 182,756 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,626,000 after buying an additional 738 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stonebrook Private Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 5.8% during the first quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 19,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $817,000 after acquiring an additional 1,081 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of America Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of BAC opened at $53.38 on Friday. Bank of America Corporation has a 12-month low of $33.06 and a 12-month high of $53.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $389.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $51.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $28.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.05 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 15.70% and a return on equity of 10.76%. Bank of America’s revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.81 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is 30.52%.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, July 23rd that allows the company to buyback $40.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BAC. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Bank of America from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 target price (up previously from $57.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. HSBC raised their price target on shares of Bank of America from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Seaport Global Securities upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $59.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Twenty-three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.86.

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.