California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 629,440 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 16,537,307 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 629,440 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $726,815,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of 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 period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth $5,226,989,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 4.9% in the fourth 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 buying an additional 2,806,927 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.7% during 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 buying an additional 1,671,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 42,929,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,886,769,000 after acquiring an additional 297,858 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Price Performance

NYSE BAC opened at $41.24 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $313.50 billion, a PE ratio of 12.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.89. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $34.15 and a 52 week high of $48.08.

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 for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.70 EPS. Bank of America’s revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.52%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on BAC. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on 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. Hsbc Global Res raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. HSBC raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of 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 given a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.45.

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.