Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC Reduces Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 25.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 42,587 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 14,395 shares during the quarter. Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,872,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in Bank of America by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 3,940,121 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $173,168,000 after acquiring an additional 173,021 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $60,679,000. Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in Bank of America by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 2,028,439 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $89,150,000 after acquiring an additional 10,377 shares during the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 3,458,616 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $152,006,000 after acquiring an additional 38,258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 42,929,896 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,886,769,000 after purchasing an additional 297,858 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of BAC stock traded up $0.11 on Friday, hitting $37.44. The stock had a trading volume of 47,052,978 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,127,145. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $33.07 and a 12-month high of $48.08. The stock has a market cap of $284.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50 day moving average of $41.27 and a 200 day moving average of $43.59. 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 - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.10. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. The company had revenue of $27.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.83 billion. As a group, 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 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio is 30.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on BAC. 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 report on Tuesday, January 7th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Cfra Research lifted their price objective on Bank of America to $47.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Bank of America from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $47.20.

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.