State of Tennessee Department of Treasury Reduces Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

State of Tennessee Department of Treasury lowered its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,426,152 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 107,189 shares during the period. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury's holdings in Bank of America were worth $106,629,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 15,716.2% in the fourth quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 139,815 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $6,145,000 after acquiring an additional 138,931 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 127.6% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Dimensions Group Ltd. now owns 14,252 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $626,000 after buying an additional 7,989 shares during the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its holdings in Bank of America by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 907,697 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $39,911,000 after buying an additional 5,155 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in Bank of America by 114.7% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 457,115 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $20,090,000 after acquiring an additional 244,168 shares during the period. Finally, Transatlantique Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Bank of America by 87.3% during the 4th quarter. Transatlantique Private Wealth LLC now owns 27,845 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,224,000 after acquiring an additional 12,982 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BAC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Bank of America from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their target price on shares of Bank of America from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. HSBC upgraded Bank of America from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Bank of America from a "moderate buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $49.50 to $43.50 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.43.

Bank of America Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE:BAC traded up $0.49 on Wednesday, hitting $38.81. The stock had a trading volume of 54,396,997 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,096,375. The stock has a market cap of $295.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.05, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.24. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $33.07 and a 1-year high of $48.08. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $40.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $27.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $26.83 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.95%.

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.