Morningstar Investment Management LLC Sells 38,680 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Morningstar Investment Management LLC trimmed its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 67.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 38,680 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $828,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Collier Financial purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc raised its position in Bank of America by 3,883.2% during the fourth quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc now owns 559,995 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 545,936 shares in the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new stake in Bank of America during the third quarter worth about $29,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 152.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays upped their target price on Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. HSBC upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer upped their price target 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. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.58.

Bank of America Stock Down 1.1 %

BAC stock opened at $46.03 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $353.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $45.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.25. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $33.17 and a fifty-two week high of $48.08.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 2.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.