Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 90.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,591 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 70,116 shares during the quarter. Meridian Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $334,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in Bank of America by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 3,940,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $173,168,000 after buying an additional 173,021 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth about $60,679,000. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in Bank of America by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 2,028,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,150,000 after buying an additional 10,377 shares in the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH increased its holdings in Bank of America by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 3,458,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $152,006,000 after buying an additional 38,258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Bank of America by 0.7% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 297,858 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.0 %

BAC opened at $42.47 on Friday. 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 $44.81 and its 200 day moving average is $43.79. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $34.15 and a fifty-two week high of $48.08. The stock has a market cap of $322.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued 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 net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.70 earnings per share. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.30%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Baird R W upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.64.

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.