Andra AP fonden Trims Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Andra AP fonden reduced its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 10.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 39,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,500 shares during the period. Andra AP fonden’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,714,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB grew its position in Bank of America by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 7,042,374 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $279,441,000 after acquiring an additional 50,849 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Bank of America by 120.2% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 19,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $814,000 after acquiring an additional 10,497 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Bank of America by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,415,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $611,692,000 after acquiring an additional 569,385 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its position in Bank of America by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 878,415 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,855,000 after acquiring an additional 47,896 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atria Investments Inc grew its position in Bank of America by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 455,182 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,062,000 after acquiring an additional 25,741 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on BAC shares. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. HSBC raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Robert W. Baird raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.64.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $41.39 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $34.15 and a twelve month high of $48.08. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $45.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.75. The stock has a market cap of $314.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.70 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.30%.

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.