Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Sold by Altfest L J & Co. Inc.

Altfest L J & Co. Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 11.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 20,303 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,528 shares during the quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $684,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BAC. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC now owns 39,526 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,309,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Bank of America by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. now owns 17,351 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $586,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the period. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 2.2% in the first quarter. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC now owns 15,918 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $656,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. Sweet Financial Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Sweet Financial Partners LLC now owns 19,529 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $658,000 after acquiring an additional 344 shares during the period. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.5% in the first quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 10,765 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $308,000 after buying an additional 366 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on BAC shares. HSBC restated a “hold” rating and issued a $39.00 price target (up previously from $38.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $37.00 to $36.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Odeon Capital Group lowered shares of Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.90 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $36.15.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:BAC traded down $0.03 on Thursday, hitting $37.78. 20,621,414 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 40,770,902. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $34.35 and its 200 day moving average is $31.26. The company has a market capitalization of $298.11 billion, a PE ratio of 12.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.38. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $24.96 and a 1-year high of $37.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 12th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.70 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 15.42%. Bank of America’s revenue was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.11 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 29th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.27%.

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.