Associated Banc Corp Decreases Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Associated Banc Corp lowered its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 367,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 13,406 shares during the period. Associated Banc Corp’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $16,130,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. HMV Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth about $217,000. Hilton Capital Management LLC raised its position in Bank of America by 86.3% during the fourth quarter. Hilton Capital Management LLC now owns 187,018 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,219,000 after acquiring an additional 86,617 shares during the last quarter. Postrock Partners LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth about $407,000. Analyst IMS Investment Management Services Ltd. raised its position in Bank of America by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. Analyst IMS Investment Management Services Ltd. now owns 32,710 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,438,000 after acquiring an additional 4,158 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwest Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Bank of America by 29.7% during the fourth quarter. Northwest Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,260 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $363,000 after acquiring an additional 1,893 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BAC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.64.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC opened at $40.97 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $34.15 and a 52-week high of $48.08. The company has a 50 day moving average of $45.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.71. The company has a market cap of $311.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 earned $0.70 earnings per share. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.54%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.30%.

Bank of America Company 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.