Vest Financial LLC Cuts Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Vest Financial LLC lowered its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 64.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 274,403 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 496,478 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $11,451,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 108,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,785,000 after purchasing an additional 25,143 shares during the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at $154,000. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC now owns 7,611 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares during the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management boosted its stake in Bank of America by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 30,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,345,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Bank of America by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 131,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,771,000 after purchasing an additional 950 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on BAC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Bank of America from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. UBS Group raised their price target on Bank of America from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Argus dropped their price target on Bank of America from $53.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Bank of America from $51.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Bank of America from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.50.

Bank of America Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of BAC stock opened at $45.01 on Friday. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $33.07 and a 12-month high of $48.08. 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 50-day moving average price is $40.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $339.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.30.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $27.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.83 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. Equities research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 30.95%.

Bank of America Company 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.