Skylands Capital LLC Sells 11,100 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Skylands Capital LLC lowered its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 14.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 65,425 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 11,100 shares during the quarter. Skylands Capital LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $2,875,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Collier Financial bought a new position in Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3,883.2% during the 4th quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc now owns 559,995 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 545,936 shares in the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 152.7% during the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Down 1.1 %

NYSE:BAC opened at $44.80 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $343.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $33.37 and a twelve month high of $48.08. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $45.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.70 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.32%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BAC. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.58.

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.