Stephens Inc. AR Reduces Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Stephens Inc. AR reduced its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 640,626 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 30,947 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $28,156,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 31,021.6% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 10,207,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $405,049,000 after purchasing an additional 10,175,100 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 81.4% in the fourth 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 boosted 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 acquiring an additional 5,493,817 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 193.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 5,015,378 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 3,550.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,547,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,804,560,000 after acquiring an additional 4,423,215 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $47.43 on Friday. 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 company’s 50-day moving average price is $45.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.92. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $32.35 and a 52 week high of $48.08. The stock has a market cap of $363.89 billion, a PE ratio of 14.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 32.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BAC has been the topic of several research reports. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. HSBC upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.58.

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.