Great Lakes Retirement Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Great Lakes Retirement Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 231,314 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,084 shares during the quarter. Bank of America makes up approximately 1.3% of Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Great Lakes Retirement Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $10,166,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the third quarter valued at $80,000. Stablepoint Partners LLC boosted its position in Bank of America by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC now owns 8,508 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $338,000 after buying an additional 811 shares during the period. CX Institutional grew its stake in Bank of America by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 33,263 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,320,000 after acquiring an additional 1,667 shares in the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 0.9% during the third quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 39,790 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,579,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares during the period. Finally, Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 4.2% during the third quarter. Cliftonlarsonallen Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 32,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,271,000 after acquiring an additional 1,283 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of BAC stock opened at $46.80 on Wednesday. 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 $32.35 and a twelve month high of $48.08. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $45.77 and a 200 day moving average of $42.96. The stock has a market cap of $359.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.70 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.69 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.30%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BAC has been the topic of several research reports. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target 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, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus 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.