Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Sold by Garner Asset Management Corp

Garner Asset Management Corp decreased its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 12.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 25,924 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,594 shares during the quarter. Garner Asset Management Corp’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $853,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Greenleaf Trust lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 2.7% during the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 167,497 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,586,000 after purchasing an additional 4,436 shares in the last quarter. Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC increased its position in Bank of America by 1.1% during the third quarter. Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC now owns 1,209,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,102,000 after purchasing an additional 13,468 shares during the last quarter. Houlihan Financial Resource Group Ltd. purchased a new position in Bank of America during the third quarter worth about $599,000. First Heartland Consultants Inc. boosted its stake in Bank of America by 6.7% during the third quarter. First Heartland Consultants Inc. now owns 12,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $336,000 after buying an additional 775 shares during the period. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 28.7% during the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 19,430,142 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $531,997,000 after buying an additional 4,335,882 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC stock traded down $0.81 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $38.86. The stock had a trading volume of 44,344,844 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,055,254. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $38.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.24. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $24.96 and a 1-year high of $40.19. The stock has a market cap of $303.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.06. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The firm had revenue of $25.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 33.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 4th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, May 20th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price objective (up previously from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.26.

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.