Private Management Group Inc. Cuts Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Private Management Group Inc. decreased its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 35.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,485 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,750 shares during the period. Private Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $353,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Bank of America by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,976 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $336,000 after buying an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. Kennedy Investment Group increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 58,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,953,000 after purchasing an additional 321 shares in the last quarter. Private Ocean LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 34.0% during the fourth quarter. Private Ocean LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. now owns 17,351 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $586,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morton Capital Management LLC CA increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Morton Capital Management LLC CA now owns 10,628 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $358,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on BAC. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Oppenheimer cut 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 report on Wednesday, April 17th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price target (up previously from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.53.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Bank of America stock traded down $0.05 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $38.32. 28,103,280 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 41,516,668. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $24.96 and a 12-month high of $38.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market cap of $302.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.39. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.57.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $25.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.49 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.17 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.