Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC Cuts Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC lessened its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 9.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 56,518 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,098 shares during the period. Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $2,604,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BAC. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 37,393 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,484,000 after buying an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 20,863 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $828,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Integrity Financial Corp WA grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Integrity Financial Corp WA now owns 14,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $590,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Cahill Financial Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cahill Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 12,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $485,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chicago Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 13,923 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $552,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $46.21 on Friday. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $31.27 and a twelve month high of $48.08. The stock has a market cap of $354.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company’s fifty day moving average is $45.46 and its 200-day moving average is $42.15.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 37.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group raised 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. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Citigroup upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total transaction of $369,952,591.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 766,305,462 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,606,297,408.10. This represents a 1.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.