Wharton Business Group LLC Cuts Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Wharton Business Group LLC reduced its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 401,368 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 18,489 shares during the period. Wharton Business Group LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $17,640,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Swedbank AB increased its position in Bank of America by 0.7% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 7,042,374 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $279,441,000 after buying an additional 50,849 shares in the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 40.7% during the third quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 10,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $431,000 after purchasing an additional 3,164 shares during the last quarter. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.4% during the third quarter. Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp now owns 12,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $511,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.9% during the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 130,349 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,172,000 after purchasing an additional 2,467 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 2.8% during the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 6,319,991 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $247,637,000 after purchasing an additional 172,779 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. HSBC upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.58.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC stock opened at $44.80 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The business has a 50 day moving average of $45.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.41. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $33.37 and a 52 week high of $48.08. The company has a market cap of $343.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.91, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.33.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. The business’s revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.69 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.32%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio 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.