Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Decreases Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lessened its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 3.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,284,285 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 129,006 shares during the quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $144,344,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 3,940,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $173,168,000 after acquiring an additional 173,021 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth about $60,679,000. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 2,028,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,150,000 after purchasing an additional 10,377 shares in the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH boosted its stake in Bank of America by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 3,458,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $152,006,000 after purchasing an additional 38,258 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in 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 valued at $1,886,769,000 after buying an additional 297,858 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. HSBC upgraded shares of 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. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Bank of America from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Bank of America from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.45.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC opened at $43.09 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $327.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.38, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $34.15 and a 1 year high of $48.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.83.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The company’s revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.70 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 32.30%.

Bank of America 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.