Rathbones Group PLC Lowers Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Rathbones Group PLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 7.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,247,344 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 101,400 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $54,821,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Bank of America by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,415,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $611,692,000 after purchasing an additional 569,385 shares during the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the third quarter valued at approximately $306,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 216,245 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,581,000 after acquiring an additional 13,292 shares during the last quarter. Anson Funds Management LP purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,282,000. Finally, Pacific Center for Financial Services increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pacific Center for Financial Services now owns 5,680 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 786 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on BAC shares. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Bank of America from $51.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Baird R W upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Friday, March 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.31.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $34.37 on Monday. Bank of America Co. has a one year low of $32.70 and a one year high of $48.08. The stock has a market cap of $261.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average of $43.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.94.

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, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.12 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.70 earnings per share. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.30%.

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.