Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Sold by WASHINGTON TRUST Co

WASHINGTON TRUST Co decreased its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 299,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,489 shares during the quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $13,144,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $1,794,164,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731,003 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC increased its stake 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 worth $886,499,000 after purchasing an additional 601,211 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in 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 worth $676,264,000 after buying an additional 59,853 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in Bank of America by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 15,857,556 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $696,940,000 after buying an additional 285,117 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of BAC stock opened at $46.98 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $360.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.59, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.05. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $32.49 and a twelve month high of $48.08.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.70 earnings per share. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.69 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.30%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BAC. Citigroup raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. HSBC upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays lifted their price target on Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, UBS Group raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.58.

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.