Loomis Sayles & Co. L P Cuts Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lowered its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 54.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,685 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,237 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $118,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Collier Financial purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc raised its stake in Bank of America by 3,883.2% in the fourth quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc now owns 559,995 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 545,936 shares in the last quarter. Graney & King LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 152.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 510 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.45.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $41.24 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $313.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $34.15 and a 1 year high of $48.08. The company’s fifty day moving average is $44.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.93.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.70 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.52%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.30%.

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.