Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 32,233 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System cut its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 8.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 359,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 32,233 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $15,778,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Amundi grew its stake in Bank of America by 37.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 37,819,980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,747,658,000 after purchasing an additional 10,231,001 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its stake in Bank of America by 31,021.6% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 10,207,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $405,049,000 after purchasing an additional 10,175,100 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its stake in Bank of America by 81.4% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 12,776,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $561,513,000 after purchasing an additional 5,733,810 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in Bank of America by 130.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,692,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $425,976,000 after purchasing an additional 5,493,817 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in Bank of America by 193.4% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 7,608,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $301,898,000 after purchasing an additional 5,015,378 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $41.61 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $316.37 billion, a PE ratio of 12.92, 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 current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $45.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.78. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $34.15 and a fifty-two week high of $48.08.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.70 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.50%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 32.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Truist Financial raised their price target on Bank of America from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Bank of America from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays raised their price objective on Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.64.

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.