Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Stake Reduced by Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc.

Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 4.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,078 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 700 shares during the period. Alan B Lancz & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $541,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Fortis Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 98.1% in the third quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 1,018 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 504 shares in the last quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of 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. Finally, Private Ocean LLC grew its position in Bank of America by 34.0% during the 4th quarter. Private Ocean LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Bank of America from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Wolfe Research raised Bank of America from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Bank of America from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Bank of America from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $32.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.70.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC traded up $0.37 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $37.25. 34,082,662 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 41,339,492. The firm has a market capitalization of $291.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.37. Bank of America Co. has a one year low of $24.96 and a one year high of $38.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company’s 50 day moving average is $36.46 and its 200 day moving average is $33.08.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced 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. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.94%. The firm 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 company earned $0.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.2 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.58%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 33.22%.

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.