Exane Asset Management Sells 192,735 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Exane Asset Management reduced its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 45.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 235,290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 192,735 shares during the quarter. Bank of America comprises approximately 6.0% of Exane Asset Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Exane Asset Management’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $10,708,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BAC. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,546,871,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700,141 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,215,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,794,164,000 after buying an additional 1,731,003 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 22,341,213 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $886,499,000 after buying an additional 601,211 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,042,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $676,264,000 after acquiring an additional 59,853 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 15,857,556 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $696,940,000 after acquiring an additional 285,117 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on BAC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. HSBC upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Bank of America from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.58.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $47.43 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $32.35 and a 1-year high of $48.08. The business has a 50-day moving average of $45.77 and a 200-day moving average of $42.88. The company has a market capitalization of $363.89 billion, a PE ratio of 14.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.70 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.