Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 32,233 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lowered its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 8.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 359,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 32,233 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $15,778,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of BAC. Swedbank AB grew its position 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 worth $279,441,000 after acquiring an additional 50,849 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Bank of America by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,415,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $611,692,000 after acquiring an additional 569,385 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,516,000. Aviance Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 35,276 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,400,000 after buying an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tranquility Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tranquility Partners LLC now owns 18,281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $725,000 after buying an additional 411 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.4 %

BAC stock opened at $41.61 on Wednesday. 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.78. The company has a market cap of $316.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $34.15 and a fifty-two week high of $48.08.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. The firm 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 for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.70 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.30%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on BAC shares. HSBC upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on 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. Finally, Baird R W raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.64.

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.