Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Stock Holdings Lessened by Wharton Business Group LLC

Wharton Business Group LLC reduced its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 401,368 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 18,489 shares during the quarter. Wharton Business Group LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $17,640,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Swedbank AB raised its stake in Bank of America by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 7,042,374 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $279,441,000 after purchasing an additional 50,849 shares during the period. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 40.7% in the third quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 10,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $431,000 after acquiring an additional 3,164 shares during the last quarter. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 3.4% in the third quarter. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp now owns 12,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $511,000 after acquiring an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.9% in the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 130,349 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,172,000 after acquiring an additional 2,467 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 2.8% in the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 6,319,991 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $247,637,000 after purchasing an additional 172,779 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE:BAC opened at $44.80 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $343.71 billion, a PE ratio of 13.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $33.37 and a fifty-two week high of $48.08. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.41. 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 (NYSE:BAC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.12 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.70 EPS. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.30%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $43.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.58.

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.