Highland Capital Management LLC Trims Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Highland Capital Management LLC cut its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 287,465 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 7,046 shares during the quarter. Bank of America makes up approximately 0.7% of Highland Capital Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Highland Capital Management LLC's holdings in Bank of America were worth $12,634,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its holdings in Bank of America by 31,021.6% in 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 acquiring an additional 10,175,100 shares during 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. KBC Group NV lifted 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 buying an additional 5,493,817 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its holdings in Bank of America by 193.4% in 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 buying an additional 5,015,378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 3,550.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,547,788 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,804,560,000 after acquiring an additional 4,423,215 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BAC. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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. Phillip Securities raised shares of Bank of America from a "neutral" rating to an "accumulate" rating and set a $44.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Bank of America from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $48.58.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE:BAC traded down $0.19 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $46.56. The company had a trading volume of 19,821,524 shares, compared to its average volume of 36,609,926. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $32.35 and a 12-month high of $48.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $357.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.51, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $45.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.73.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 quarterly revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.70 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.