Sepio Capital LP Lowers Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Sepio Capital LP decreased its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 31,020 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,046 shares during the period. Sepio Capital LP’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,363,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in Bank of America by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 3,940,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $173,168,000 after acquiring an additional 173,021 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at about $60,679,000. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 2,028,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,150,000 after purchasing an additional 10,377 shares in the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 3,458,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $152,006,000 after purchasing an additional 38,258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 valued at $1,886,769,000 after acquiring an additional 297,858 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $51.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $49.50 to $43.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, HSBC upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.31.

Bank of America Stock Down 7.7 %

NYSE:BAC opened at $34.37 on Monday. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $32.70 and a 52 week high of $48.08. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $43.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $261.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.67, 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.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its 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. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. Bank of America’s revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.70 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 32.30%.

About Bank of America

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.