Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC Lowers Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 489,207 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 24,188 shares during the period. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC's holdings in Bank of America were worth $21,501,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 142,289,199 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $6,243,000,000 after purchasing an additional 2,033,229 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Bank of America by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 122,437,422 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $5,381,126,000 after acquiring an additional 11,691,451 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth about $5,226,989,000. Capital World Investors increased its position in Bank of America by 23.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 88,210,527 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,876,853,000 after buying an additional 17,031,143 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 59,613,837 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,620,028,000 after purchasing an additional 2,806,927 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BAC. Cfra Research boosted their price target on Bank of America to $47.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Phillip Securities upgraded Bank of America from a "moderate buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. UBS Group increased their target price on Bank of America from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Citigroup lowered their price objective 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Bank of America from $49.50 to $43.50 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.25.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.8 %

BAC stock traded up $0.31 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $40.19. 32,417,164 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 39,197,734. The firm has a market capitalization of $305.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.24. 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 business has a 50 day moving average of $40.15 and a 200-day moving average of $43.54. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $33.07 and a 52-week high of $48.08.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.10. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The firm had revenue of $27.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $26.83 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.95%.

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.