BDF Gestion Reduces Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

BDF Gestion reduced its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 11.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 317,798 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 41,267 shares during the period. Bank of America makes up approximately 1.3% of BDF Gestion’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. BDF Gestion’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $13,967,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BAC. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 31,021.6% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 10,207,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $405,049,000 after purchasing an additional 10,175,100 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its stake in Bank of America by 81.4% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 12,776,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $561,513,000 after purchasing an additional 5,733,810 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Bank of America by 130.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,692,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $425,976,000 after buying an additional 5,493,817 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in Bank of America by 193.4% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 7,608,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $301,898,000 after buying an additional 5,015,378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 3,550.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,547,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,804,560,000 after buying an additional 4,423,215 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Phillip Securities raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. UBS Group raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.58.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $46.74 on Thursday. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $32.35 and a 52 week high of $48.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The company has a market cap of $358.59 billion, a PE ratio of 14.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.70.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.70 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.67 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. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 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.