Smead Capital Management Inc. Decreases Holdings in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Smead Capital Management Inc. decreased its position in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 7.1% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,389,427 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 259,344 shares during the quarter. Bank of America accounts for 3.4% of Smead Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. Smead Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $174,861,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. AMG National Trust Bank boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 43,920 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,266,000 after purchasing an additional 558 shares in the last quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Bank of America by 1.3% during the third quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. now owns 44,232 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,357,000 after buying an additional 560 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Bank of America by 1.7% during the third quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 26,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,391,000 after buying an additional 447 shares during the period. Berkeley Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 2.3% during the third quarter. Berkeley Capital Partners LLC now owns 59,455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,067,000 after buying an additional 1,361 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Frisch Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 2.0% in the third quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. now owns 14,838 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $765,000 after buying an additional 290 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Bank of America this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large growth/fee opportunity — BofA plans to commit $25 billion of its own capital to expand private‑credit and direct‑lending activity, a move that can boost fee income, diversify lending channels and signal aggressive growth of non‑interest revenue. BofA commits $25 billion to private-credit deals, memo shows
• Positive Sentiment: Client acquisition and deposit strategy — BofA is redesigning a no‑fee rewards program aimed at expanding relationships with checking clients (potentially ~30M more), which could deepen deposit balances and cross‑sell into cards and wealth management over time. How BAC’s No-Fee Rewards Program Can Be a Slow-Burn Growth Driver
• Positive Sentiment: Wealth business recognition — Merrill had 24 advisors named to Financial Planning’s Top 40 Brokers Under 40, underscoring talent depth in wealth management, which supports fee revenue stability and advisor retention. 24 Merrill Advisors Recognized on Financial Planning’s Top 40 Brokers Under 40 List
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor attention rising — Screening and search interest in BAC has picked up, which can amplify moves both ways depending on incoming data and macro headlines. Investors Heavily Search Bank of America Corporation (BAC)
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro/sector commentary — Bank of America Securities flagged the housing rebound as shaky (weak year‑on‑year), which is sector commentary that could influence mortgage volumes but isn’t an immediate hit to BAC’s broad franchise. Home Construction Rebound Looks Shaky, Says Analyst
• Negative Sentiment: Risk/valuation concerns in private credit — Coverage from FT and others notes growing industry moves into private credit and flags mounting concerns about the sector’s health and underwriting risk; deploying large balance‑sheet capital raises exposure and regulatory/credit‑cycle risk if conditions sour. Bank of America commits $25bn to private credit lending

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BAC. Daiwa Securities Group dropped their target price on Bank of America from $66.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Argus raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $59.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, CICC Research began coverage on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $62.00 price objective on the stock. Twenty-two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.30.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC stock opened at $53.04 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Bank of America Corporation has a 1 year low of $33.06 and a 1 year high of $57.55. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $54.29 and a 200 day moving average of $52.22. The company has a market cap of $387.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.85, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.29.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 14th. The financial services provider reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.02. Bank of America had a return on equity of 11.07% and a net margin of 16.23%.The firm had revenue of $4.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.82 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is 29.24%.

About Bank of America

Bank of America Corporation is a multinational financial services company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It provides a broad array of banking, investment, asset management and related financial and risk management products and services to individual consumers, small- and middle-market businesses, large corporations, governments and institutional investors. The firm operates through consumer banking, global wealth and investment management, global banking and markets businesses, offering capabilities across lending, deposits, payments, advisory and capital markets.

Its consumer-facing offerings include checking and savings accounts, mortgages, home equity lending, auto loans, credit cards and small business banking, supported by a nationwide branch network and digital channels.