Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Cuts Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund trimmed its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 17.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 382,974 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 78,788 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $16,832,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Todd Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 931,842 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,954,000 after buying an additional 14,422 shares during the period. FourThought Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth $919,000. Processus Wealth & Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Processus Wealth & Capital Management LLC now owns 76,695 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,371,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Bank of America by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 59,613,837 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,620,028,000 after purchasing an additional 2,806,927 shares during the period. Finally, EdgeRock Capital LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. EdgeRock Capital LLC now owns 6,169 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $271,000 after purchasing an additional 437 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE:BAC opened at $44.48 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $45.73 and its 200 day moving average is $43.46. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $33.53 and a fifty-two week high of $48.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $341.25 billion, a PE ratio of 13.81, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.70 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.34%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 32.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on BAC. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays raised their price target on Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Hsbc Global Res raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. 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, January 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.58.

Bank of America Company 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.