JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd Trims Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd decreased its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 341,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,995 shares during the quarter. Bank of America makes up about 1.1% of JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $15,007,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Thomasville National Bank increased its stake in Bank of America by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 63,563 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,794,000 after purchasing an additional 4,489 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 14,160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $622,000 after buying an additional 872 shares during the period. Fiduciary Alliance LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 127.2% during the fourth quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 56,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,462,000 after buying an additional 31,356 shares during the period. Winthrop Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Winthrop Advisory Group LLC now owns 32,864 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,444,000 after buying an additional 1,612 shares during the period. Finally, EWG Elevate Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at $207,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered Bank of America from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $48.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of America presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.50.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total value of $369,952,591.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 766,305,462 shares in the company, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. The trade was a 1.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of Bank of America stock traded down $0.39 on Monday, reaching $44.72. 10,390,663 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 30,150,529. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $31.27 and a twelve month high of $48.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $343.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.26, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.33. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $45.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.22.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

Bank of America Company Profile

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.