Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Sold by Zacks Investment Management

Zacks Investment Management reduced its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,186,580 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 64,741 shares during the period. Bank of America comprises 0.9% of Zacks Investment Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Zacks Investment Management’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $96,100,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Bank of America by 3.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,415,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $611,692,000 after buying an additional 569,385 shares during the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $306,000. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 4.3% during the third quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,602 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $619,000 after purchasing an additional 645 shares during the period. Tudor Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the third quarter valued at about $645,000. Finally, Eaton Financial Holdings Company LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America during the third quarter worth about $488,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. 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. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $51.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. UBS Group upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.31.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $38.03 on Wednesday. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $33.07 and a 52-week high of $48.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $289.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.66.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.10. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. The firm had revenue of $27.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.83 billion. Research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.73%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 32.30%.

Bank of America 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.