New Century Financial Group LLC Sells 4,639 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

New Century Financial Group LLC reduced its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 41.4% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,571 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,639 shares during the quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $274,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 30.0% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 108,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,785,000 after purchasing an additional 25,143 shares in the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $272,000. Leavell Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 37.4% during the fourth quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc. now owns 15,951 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $701,000 after purchasing an additional 4,342 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 243.1% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 65,991 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,900,000 after purchasing an additional 46,760 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Consolidated Planning Corp boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp now owns 8,092 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $356,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on BAC. Argus dropped their price target on Bank of America from $53.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Bank of America from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Bank of America from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Phillip Securities upgraded Bank of America from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.69.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $44.04 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.42. The stock has a market cap of $331.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.68, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.30. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $33.07 and a 52 week high of $48.08.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $27.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.83 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. On average, analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.95%.

About Bank of America

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.