Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Sold by Sandy Spring Bank

Sandy Spring Bank lessened its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 9.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 43,109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,706 shares during the period. Sandy Spring Bank’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,895,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 37.1% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 37,819,980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,747,658,000 after acquiring an additional 10,231,001 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 31,021.6% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 10,207,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $405,049,000 after acquiring an additional 10,175,100 shares during the period. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 81.4% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 12,776,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $561,513,000 after acquiring an additional 5,733,810 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 130.9% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,692,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $425,976,000 after acquiring an additional 5,493,817 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 193.4% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 7,608,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $301,898,000 after acquiring an additional 5,015,378 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on BAC. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Bank of America from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted 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 report on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of 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 upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.64.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $42.48 on Friday. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $34.15 and a 1 year high of $48.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $322.94 billion, a PE ratio of 13.19, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 firm’s 50-day moving average is $44.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.76.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.70 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.