MRP Capital Investments LLC Decreases Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

MRP Capital Investments LLC reduced its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,250 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 250 shares during the quarter. MRP Capital Investments LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $714,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,546,871,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700,141 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 59,613,837 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,620,028,000 after purchasing an additional 2,806,927 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 46,887,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,060,703,000 after purchasing an additional 1,671,610 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 42,929,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,886,769,000 after purchasing an additional 297,858 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 37.1% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 37,819,980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,747,658,000 after purchasing an additional 10,231,001 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BAC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Baird R W raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. HSBC raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.64.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Bank of America stock opened at $42.48 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $44.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $322.94 billion, a PE ratio of 13.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. Bank of America Co. has a one year low of $34.15 and a one year high of $48.08.

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. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.70 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 32.30%.

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.