West Family Investments Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

West Family Investments Inc. decreased its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 20,667 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 298 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $908,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Swedbank AB grew its stake in shares of 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 valued at $279,441,000 after buying an additional 50,849 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 120.2% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 19,231 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $814,000 after buying an additional 10,497 shares during the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 3.1% during the third quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 30,544 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,212,000 after buying an additional 924 shares during the last quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 75.1% during the third quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC now owns 12,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $476,000 after buying an additional 5,150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&G PLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 71.9% during the third quarter. M&G PLC now owns 586,779 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $23,471,000 after buying an additional 245,448 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BAC. Citigroup raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. UBS Group raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective 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. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, HSBC raised 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 given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.58.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $41.36 on Friday. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $34.15 and a twelve month high of $48.08. The firm has a market cap of $314.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.84, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a 50 day moving average of $45.67 and a 200 day moving average of $43.67. 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 quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 company 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. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.51%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 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.