Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. Has $677.72 Million Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 9.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,420,316 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,622,636 shares during the period. Bank of America accounts for approximately 3.0% of Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. owned 0.20% of Bank of America worth $677,723,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in Bank of America by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 3,940,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $173,168,000 after purchasing an additional 173,021 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth $60,679,000. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 2,028,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,150,000 after acquiring an additional 10,377 shares in the last quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 43.0% during the third quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 39,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,567,000 after acquiring an additional 11,873 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keybank National Association OH lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 3,458,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $152,006,000 after acquiring an additional 38,258 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on BAC shares. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. HSBC upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays raised their price target on Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Baird R W raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.64.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC stock opened at $39.64 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $45.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.70. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $34.15 and a 52-week high of $48.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $301.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.31, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78.

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

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.62%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 32.30%.

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.