Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Cuts Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC cut its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 98.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,355 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 230,697 shares during the quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC's holdings in Bank of America were worth $147,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Bank of America by 1.2% in the third 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 during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Bank of America by 4.0% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,215,832 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,794,164,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731,003 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC increased its position in Bank of America by 2.8% in the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 22,341,213 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $886,499,000 after purchasing an additional 601,211 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 0.4% during the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,042,952 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $676,264,000 after buying an additional 59,853 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 3.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,415,630 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $611,692,000 after buying an additional 569,385 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on BAC shares. HSBC upgraded Bank of America from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $50.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group upgraded Bank of America from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $48.58.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.1 %

BAC stock traded down $0.07 during trading on Monday, hitting $46.23. 36,480,730 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 36,949,066. The firm has a market capitalization of $354.72 billion, a PE ratio of 14.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $32.35 and a 1 year high of $48.08. The company has a 50-day moving average of $45.83 and a 200-day moving average of $42.77. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $25.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.70 EPS. The business's revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. 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.