Ballast Advisors LLC Sells 299 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Ballast Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 299 shares during the period. Ballast Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $229,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. HUB Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 171,956 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,557,000 after acquiring an additional 1,769 shares in the last quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 30.2% in the fourth quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 610,914 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,849,000 after buying an additional 141,740 shares in the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 283,840 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,475,000 after buying an additional 14,690 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 2,615,204 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $114,938,000 after acquiring an additional 248,538 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First National Bank of Hutchinson acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth about $576,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $42.48 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. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $34.15 and a 52-week high of $48.08. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $44.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $322.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.70 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on BAC shares. Baird R W raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. HSBC raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Truist Financial raised their target price on Bank of America from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $43.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.64.

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.