Hartford Financial Management Inc. Cuts Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Hartford Financial Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 5.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 47,991 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,802 shares during the quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $2,109,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Bank of America by 1.2% in 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. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 4.0% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,215,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,794,164,000 after buying an additional 1,731,003 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 22,341,213 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $886,499,000 after acquiring an additional 601,211 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 59,853 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Bank of America by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,415,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $611,692,000 after purchasing an additional 569,385 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $46.68 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $358.19 billion, a PE ratio of 14.50, a PEG ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.33. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $45.85 and its 200-day moving average price is $42.73. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $32.35 and a 52-week high of $48.08. 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 (NYSE:BAC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.70 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.67 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 32.30%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BAC. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, October 18th. HSBC raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Bank of America from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their price objective on Bank of America from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.58.

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.