Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) Holdings Lowered by Morningstar Investment Management LLC

Morningstar Investment Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 14.7% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 16,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,775 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $670,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 30.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 108,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,785,000 after buying an additional 25,143 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 35.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 860,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,797,000 after acquiring an additional 226,246 shares during the last quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. RWA Wealth Partners LLC now owns 139,011 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,110,000 after purchasing an additional 13,214 shares in the last quarter. Everstar Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 48.3% during the 4th quarter. Everstar Asset Management LLC now owns 13,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $612,000 after purchasing an additional 4,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FSB Premier Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Bank of America by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. FSB Premier Wealth Management Inc. now owns 19,986 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $878,000 after purchasing an additional 1,643 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE:BAC opened at $48.23 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $363.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.30. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $45.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.80. Bank of America Corporation has a 52 week low of $33.06 and a 52 week high of $49.31.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.03. The company had revenue of ($22,273.00) million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.79 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.81% and a return on equity of 10.25%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.83 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that authorizes the company to buyback $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.41%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BAC. TD Cowen began coverage on Bank of America in a report on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $53.00 target price on the stock. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Bank of America from $57.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Argus reduced their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $49.50 to $43.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, HSBC lowered shares of Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $47.00 to $51.00 in a report on Monday, July 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Bank of America presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.03.

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.