Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Position Trimmed by Kentucky Retirement Systems

Kentucky Retirement Systems lowered its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 1.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 463,910 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 6,390 shares during the quarter. Bank of America makes up about 0.6% of Kentucky Retirement Systems' investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Kentucky Retirement Systems' holdings in Bank of America were worth $20,389,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BAC. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 31,021.6% during 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 grew its position 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 buying an additional 5,733,810 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of 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 position in shares of Bank of America by 193.4% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 7,608,305 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $301,898,000 after buying an additional 5,015,378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position 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 worth $1,804,560,000 after buying an additional 4,423,215 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BAC. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Bank of America from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. 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 research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of America has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $48.58.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC traded down $0.51 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $44.80. 43,472,525 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 35,078,777. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $33.37 and a 52 week high of $48.08. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $45.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The company has a market cap of $343.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.91, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $25.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.70 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

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