Old West Investment Management LLC Reduces Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Old West Investment Management LLC lowered its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 70.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 21,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 50,108 shares during the period. Old West Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $942,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 3.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,415,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $611,692,000 after purchasing an additional 569,385 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Bank of America by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,090,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,268,000 after buying an additional 9,137 shares during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Bank of America in the 3rd quarter worth about $306,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 31,021.6% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 10,207,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $405,049,000 after acquiring an additional 10,175,100 shares during the period. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the third quarter valued at approximately $101,507,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BAC. Robert W. Baird raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Bank of America from $49.50 to $43.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Baird R W raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.31.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $34.37 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $43.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market cap of $261.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. Bank of America Co. has a one year low of $33.67 and a one year high of $48.08.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm 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 firm earned $0.70 earnings per share. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.03%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.30%.

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.