Accent Capital Management LLC Decreases Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Accent Capital Management LLC cut its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 21.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 31,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,500 shares during the quarter. Bank of America comprises about 0.8% of Accent Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Accent Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,362,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BAC. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,546,871,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700,141 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at $5,226,989,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Bank of America by 4.9% during 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 buying an additional 2,806,927 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 46,887,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,060,703,000 after buying an additional 1,671,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Bank of America by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 42,929,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,886,769,000 after buying an additional 297,858 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on BAC. HSBC upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.45.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC stock opened at $41.24 on Friday. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $34.15 and a 12-month high of $48.08. 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 has a market capitalization of $313.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.86.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.70 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.30%.

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.