Cottage Street Advisors LLC Sells 2,721 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Cottage Street Advisors LLC decreased its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 12.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 18,799 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,721 shares during the period. Cottage Street Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $826,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Amundi raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 37.1% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 37,819,980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,747,658,000 after purchasing an additional 10,231,001 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in Bank of America by 31,021.6% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 10,207,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $405,049,000 after acquiring an additional 10,175,100 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its position in Bank of America by 81.4% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 12,776,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $561,513,000 after acquiring an additional 5,733,810 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 130.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,692,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $425,976,000 after purchasing an additional 5,493,817 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its holdings in Bank of America by 193.4% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 7,608,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $301,898,000 after purchasing an additional 5,015,378 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $43.31 on Wednesday. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $34.15 and a 1-year high of $48.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $44.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.87. The company has a market cap of $329.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.45, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.70 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.40%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.30%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BAC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Baird R W raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Barclays raised their price objective 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. Finally, UBS Group raised 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.45.

Bank of America Company 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.