Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Sells 7,635 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC cut its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 6.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 117,817 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,635 shares during the quarter. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $4,468,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fortis Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America during the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 431.0% during the 4th quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 862 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE BAC traded up $0.27 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $39.27. The company had a trading volume of 29,461,014 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,857,660. The stock has a market capitalization of $307.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $24.96 and a 1-year high of $40.34. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $38.78 and its 200-day moving average is $35.97.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.06. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.94%. The company had revenue of $25.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on BAC shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Bank of America from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Wolfe Research raised Bank of America from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Bank of America from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com downgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, May 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price target on Bank of America from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.79.

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.