Simmons Bank Sells 8,806 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Simmons Bank lessened its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 3.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 236,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,806 shares during the period. Simmons Bank’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $10,381,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 7,042,374 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $279,441,000 after acquiring an additional 50,849 shares during the period. Orrstown Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in Bank of America during the third quarter valued at approximately $389,000. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Bank of America by 21.1% during the third quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 156,955 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,694,000 after purchasing an additional 27,395 shares during the last quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors L.P. now owns 100,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,001,000 after purchasing an additional 330 shares in the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 6,306,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $250,261,000 after purchasing an additional 128,255 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on BAC. UBS Group raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $43.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. HSBC upgraded shares of 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. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.58.

Bank of America Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $43.97 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $45.71 and its 200-day moving average is $43.50. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $33.53 and a 1 year high of $48.08. The company has a market capitalization of $337.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.33. 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 (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.70 EPS. Equities 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 32.30%.

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.