Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. Has $44.39 Million Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. reduced its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,009,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 61,502 shares during the period. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $44,386,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Bank of America by 1.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,546,871,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700,141 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 59,613,837 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,620,028,000 after acquiring an additional 2,806,927 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Bank of America by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 46,887,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,060,703,000 after purchasing an additional 1,671,610 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Bank of America by 0.7% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 297,858 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi increased its holdings in Bank of America by 37.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 37,819,980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,747,658,000 after purchasing an additional 10,231,001 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.7 %

BAC opened at $39.90 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $45.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $303.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Bank of America Co. has a one year low of $34.15 and a one year high of $48.08.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.70 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.30%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BAC. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Bank of America from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. 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. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.64.

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.