Wright Investors Service Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Wright Investors Service Inc. reduced its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 3.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 85,586 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,172 shares during the period. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $2,882,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fortis Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc grew its position in Bank of America by 98.1% in the 3rd quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 1,018 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 504 shares in the last quarter. Castleview Partners LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in Bank of America in the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, ZRC Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Bank of America by 192.3% in the 4th quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Bank of America from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Bank of America from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price objective (up from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.29.

Bank of America Price Performance

Bank of America stock traded up $0.74 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $35.97. The stock had a trading volume of 12,160,998 shares, compared to its average volume of 41,134,176. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $283.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.41, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.39. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $24.96 and a 1-year high of $38.35. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $35.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.21.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $25.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.49 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.94%. Bank of America’s revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 33.22%.

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.