Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) is ING Groep NV's 9th Largest Position

ING Groep NV lowered its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,847,238 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 41,094 shares during the period. Bank of America comprises about 2.0% of ING Groep NV's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. ING Groep NV owned 0.09% of Bank of America worth $300,936,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its holdings in 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 valued at $405,049,000 after buying an additional 10,175,100 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 81.4% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 12,776,184 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $561,513,000 after purchasing an additional 5,733,810 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 5,493,817 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in Bank of America by 193.4% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 7,608,305 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $301,898,000 after purchasing an additional 5,015,378 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3,550.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,547,788 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,804,560,000 after acquiring an additional 4,423,215 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI reduced 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 report on Friday, January 17th. HSBC upgraded Bank of America from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group upgraded shares of Bank of America from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, 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. 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 two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $48.58.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC traded down $0.51 during trading on Friday, reaching $44.80. 43,178,438 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 34,612,152. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.27. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $33.37 and a 52-week high of $48.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $343.71 billion, a PE ratio of 13.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. The company 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%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.70 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America's payout ratio is 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.