Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators Sells 1,834 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators decreased its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 9.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,467 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,834 shares during the quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators’ holdings in Bank of America were worth $768,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA now owns 20,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $879,000 after buying an additional 217 shares during the period. Prossimo Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Prossimo Advisors LLC now owns 8,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $390,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 13,204 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $580,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the period. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management grew its holdings in Bank of America by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 8,291 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $364,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the period. Finally, Traveka Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC now owns 8,685 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $382,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

BAC stock opened at $44.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $33.37 and a 1 year high of $48.08. The company has a market cap of $343.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.33. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $45.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted 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 company had revenue of $25.30 billion for 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%. 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 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors 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 yield of 2.32%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.30%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock 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 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.58.

Bank of America 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.