Guardian Investment Management Reduces Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Guardian Investment Management cut its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 7.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 80,588 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,391 shares during the period. Bank of America makes up 2.2% of Guardian Investment Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Guardian Investment Management’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $2,713,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Fortis Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc grew its position in Bank of America by 98.1% during the 3rd quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 1,018 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares during the last quarter. Castleview Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, ZRC Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Bank of America by 192.3% during the 4th quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on BAC. Odeon Capital Group downgraded shares of Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.90 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, HSBC restated a “hold” rating and set a $39.00 price objective (up from $38.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.29.

Bank of America Trading Up 1.8 %

BAC stock traded up $0.63 during trading on Thursday, reaching $35.86. 28,660,105 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 41,362,863. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $35.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.21. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $24.96 and a 52-week high of $38.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $282.96 billion, a PE ratio of 12.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.39.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.06. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.94%. The business had revenue of $25.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.68%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.22%.

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.