Sentry Investment Management LLC Sells 16,863 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Sentry Investment Management LLC reduced its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 51.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 16,048 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 16,863 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $705,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BAC. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $279,441,000 after purchasing an additional 50,849 shares during the last quarter. First Financial Bankshares Inc raised its stake in Bank of America by 0.7% in the third quarter. First Financial Bankshares Inc now owns 1,205,017 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,815,000 after buying an additional 8,734 shares during the last quarter. Cavalier Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 6.4% in the third quarter. Cavalier Investments LLC now owns 17,319 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $687,000 after acquiring an additional 1,035 shares in the last quarter. First American Bank grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.2% during the third quarter. First American Bank now owns 199,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,904,000 after acquiring an additional 2,366 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Leuthold Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 16.4% during the third quarter. Leuthold Group LLC now owns 175,850 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,978,000 after acquiring an additional 24,804 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Bank of America from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.58.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.7 %

BAC stock opened at $44.48 on Tuesday. Bank of America Co. has a one year low of $33.53 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 firm’s fifty day moving average is $45.73 and its 200 day moving average is $43.46. The firm has a market cap of $341.25 billion, a PE ratio of 13.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its 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 firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 quarterly revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.70 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

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

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.