Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Sold by Welch & Forbes LLC

Welch & Forbes LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 7.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,054,558 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 84,699 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $35,507,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Fortis Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in Bank of America during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc boosted its stake 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 valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares during the period. ZRC Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Bank of America by 192.3% in 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. Finally, Private Ocean LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 34.0% in the fourth quarter. Private Ocean LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BAC. Erste Group Bank upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Bank of America from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Bank of America from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.70.

Bank of America Stock Up 1.2 %

NYSE:BAC traded up $0.44 on Monday, hitting $37.69. 28,403,702 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 40,729,758. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $36.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The company has a market cap of $294.75 billion, a PE ratio of 13.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.37. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $24.96 and a 1 year high of $38.49.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $25.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.49 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.55%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is 33.22%.

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.