Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ Sells 573,500 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ reduced its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 28.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,448,244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 573,500 shares during the quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $63,585,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA increased its position in Bank of America by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA now owns 20,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $879,000 after buying an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Prossimo Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Bank of America by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Prossimo Advisors LLC now owns 8,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $390,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC raised its stake in Bank of America by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 13,204 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $580,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares during the period. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 8,291 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $364,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Traveka Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC now owns 8,685 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $382,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on BAC. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.64.

Bank of America Price Performance

Bank of America stock opened at $39.90 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $303.40 billion, a PE ratio of 12.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $34.15 and a 12-month high of $48.08. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $45.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.73.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.70 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

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

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.