Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC Sells 30,118 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC reduced its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 17.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 139,261 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 30,118 shares during the quarter. Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $6,121,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Accent Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 43.0% in the third quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 39,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,567,000 after purchasing an additional 11,873 shares during the last quarter. Summit Global Investments boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 237.6% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 51,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,035,000 after purchasing an additional 36,089 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,546,871,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700,141 shares in the last quarter. Clarendon Private LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth $798,000. Finally, Baker Avenue Asset Management LP increased its position in Bank of America by 125.8% during the 3rd quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 61,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,421,000 after buying an additional 33,983 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BAC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, HSBC raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.58.

Bank of America Stock Performance

BAC opened at $43.97 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $45.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.50. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $33.53 and a 1 year high of $48.08. The stock has a market cap of $337.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.70 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.37%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.30%.

Bank of America 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.