Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Stock Position Reduced by Vestor Capital LLC

Vestor Capital LLC cut its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 109,230 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,201 shares during the period. Vestor Capital LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $4,801,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Bank of America by 1.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,546,871,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700,141 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Bank of America by 4.9% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 2,806,927 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Bank of America by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 46,887,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,060,703,000 after acquiring an additional 1,671,610 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Bank of America by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 42,929,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,886,769,000 after acquiring an additional 297,858 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its position in Bank of America by 37.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 37,819,980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,747,658,000 after acquiring an additional 10,231,001 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on BAC shares. Morgan Stanley boosted 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 report on Friday, January 17th. HSBC raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.64.

Bank of America Price Performance

NYSE:BAC opened at $42.47 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $322.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.19, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. Bank of America Co. has a one year low of $34.15 and a one year high of $48.08. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $44.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.77. 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 (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.70 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is 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.