Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. cut its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 50.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,040 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,080 shares during the period. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $90,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 3,940,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $173,168,000 after purchasing an additional 173,021 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth $60,679,000. Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 2,028,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,150,000 after buying an additional 10,377 shares in the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH grew its position in Bank of America by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 3,458,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $152,006,000 after buying an additional 38,258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Bank of America by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 42,929,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,886,769,000 after acquiring an additional 297,858 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. HSBC upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Baird R W raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Friday, March 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.45.

Bank of America Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $43.09 on Tuesday. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $34.15 and a 1 year high of $48.08. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $44.77 and a 200 day moving average of $43.83. The stock has a market cap of $327.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its 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. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The business’s revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.41%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 32.30%.

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.