California Public Employees Retirement System Reduces Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

California Public Employees Retirement System reduced its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,537,307 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 629,440 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.22% of Bank of America worth $726,815,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at $5,226,989,000. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 37.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 37,819,980 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,747,658,000 after acquiring an additional 10,231,001 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 31,021.6% in 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 buying an additional 10,175,100 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its holdings 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 valued at $561,513,000 after purchasing an additional 5,733,810 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its position in Bank of America by 130.9% during 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. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the subject of several research reports. HSBC raised Bank of America from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Bank of America from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their target price for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, UBS Group raised Bank of America from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $48.45.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of BAC traded up $0.55 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $41.80. The company had a trading volume of 36,386,465 shares, compared to its average volume of 37,254,779. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $34.15 and a 1-year high of $48.08. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $44.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.93. 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 company has a market capitalization of $317.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. The business's revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.70 EPS. Analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio is 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.