Columbia Asset Management Reduces Position in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Columbia Asset Management decreased its position in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 56.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 25,746 shares during the quarter. Columbia Asset Management’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $927,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Bank of America by 30.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 108,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,785,000 after buying an additional 25,143 shares during the last quarter. Baxter Bros Inc. increased its stake in Bank of America by 3.2% during the first quarter. Baxter Bros Inc. now owns 40,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,669,000 after purchasing an additional 1,230 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 27.4% during the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 172,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,199,000 after buying an additional 37,126 shares during the period. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 4.4% during the first quarter. Capital Asset Advisory Services LLC now owns 93,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,920,000 after buying an additional 3,957 shares during the period. Finally, Sentry Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 31.7% during the first quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC now owns 21,142 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $882,000 after buying an additional 5,094 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on BAC shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Bank of America from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $52.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Bank of America from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.63.

Bank of America Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $51.58 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $49.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $45.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Bank of America Corporation has a 12-month low of $33.06 and a 12-month high of $52.88. The firm has a market cap of $382.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.08, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.34.

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. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 14.81%.The firm had revenue of ($22,273.00) million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.79 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.83 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.75%.

Bank of America declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, July 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of Bank of America 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 223,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,180,656.99. The trade was a 39.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.30% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.