Cannell & Spears LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Cannell & Spears LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 35.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 18,066 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,934 shares during the quarter. Cannell & Spears LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $794,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth $5,226,989,000. Amundi lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 37.1% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 37,819,980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,747,658,000 after purchasing an additional 10,231,001 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its stake in 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 period. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in Bank of America by 81.4% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 12,776,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $561,513,000 after buying an additional 5,733,810 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 130.9% during 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 period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $41.80 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Bank of America Co. has a one year low of $34.15 and a one year high of $48.08. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $317.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion during 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 firm’s revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.70 EPS. Analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.30%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on BAC. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. UBS Group raised shares of 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 report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Friday, March 7th. Baird R W raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.45.

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.