Ellis Investment Partners LLC Cuts Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Ellis Investment Partners LLC reduced its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 15.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,487 shares during the quarter. Ellis Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $347,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Collier Financial purchased a new position in Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc grew its holdings in Bank of America by 3,883.2% in the fourth quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc now owns 559,995 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 545,936 shares during the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in Bank of America in the third quarter worth $29,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 152.7% in the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 510 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth $42,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. 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. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.58.

Bank of America Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $46.98 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.10. The company has a market cap of $360.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $32.49 and a fifty-two week high of $48.08. 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 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. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The company’s revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid 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 dividend yield of 2.21%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.