GLOBALT Investments LLC GA Trims Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

GLOBALT Investments LLC GA reduced its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 234,432 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,664 shares during the quarter. Bank of America comprises about 0.4% of GLOBALT Investments LLC GA’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $10,303,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in Bank of America by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 3,940,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $173,168,000 after purchasing an additional 173,021 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth $60,679,000. Arizona State Retirement System increased 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 during the period. Accent Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 43.0% in the 3rd quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 39,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,567,000 after acquiring an additional 11,873 shares during the period. Finally, Keybank National Association OH increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $152,006,000 after acquiring an additional 38,258 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BAC. 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. UBS Group upgraded 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 report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.64.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $40.97 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $45.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.76. Bank of America Co. has a one year low of $34.15 and a one year 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 stock has a market cap of $311.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during 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%. The company’s revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.70 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 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.