Pzena Investment Management LLC Sells 2,870,579 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Pzena Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 14.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,612,322 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,870,579 shares during the quarter. Bank of America accounts for about 2.5% of Pzena Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Pzena Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.22% of Bank of America worth $730,112,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Amundi grew its stake in Bank of America by 37.1% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 37,819,980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,747,658,000 after buying an additional 10,231,001 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its stake in Bank of America by 31,021.6% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 10,207,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $405,049,000 after buying an additional 10,175,100 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its stake in Bank of America by 81.4% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 12,776,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $561,513,000 after buying an additional 5,733,810 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in Bank of America by 130.9% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,692,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $425,976,000 after buying an additional 5,493,817 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in Bank of America by 193.4% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 7,608,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $301,898,000 after buying an additional 5,015,378 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BAC. Baird R W upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays boosted their price target on Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. UBS Group upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One research 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. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.64.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE BAC opened at $39.79 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $302.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.36, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $34.15 and a twelve month high of $48.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $45.53 and a 200 day moving average of $43.76.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion during 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%. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.70 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.61%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 32.30%.

Bank of America 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.