First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. Trims Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

First Wilshire Securities Management Inc. decreased its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,013 shares during the quarter. First Wilshire Securities Management Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $657,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 3.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,415,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $611,692,000 after buying an additional 569,385 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 221.3% during the 3rd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 20,734 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $823,000 after acquiring an additional 14,281 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 3,007.7% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 108,148 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,291,000 after acquiring an additional 104,668 shares during the period. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 20,863 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $828,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hilltop Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in Bank of America by 41.8% in the 3rd quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 49,813 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,977,000 after purchasing an additional 14,674 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of BAC stock opened at $41.49 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $34.15 and a twelve month high of $48.08. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $44.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.97. The stock has a market cap of $315.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.88, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion for 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%. Bank of America’s revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.70 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.51%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 32.30%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BAC. UBS Group upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of America presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.31.

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.