Leisure Capital Management Trims Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Leisure Capital Management reduced its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 20,147 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 521 shares during the quarter. Leisure Capital Management’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $885,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Accent Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 43.0% during the third quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 39,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,567,000 after buying an additional 11,873 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 237.6% during the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 51,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,035,000 after purchasing an additional 36,089 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Bank of America by 1.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,546,871,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700,141 shares during the period. Clarendon Private LLC bought a new position in Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth $798,000. Finally, Baker Avenue Asset Management LP lifted its position in Bank of America by 125.8% during the third quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 61,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,421,000 after buying an additional 33,983 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $46.25 on Monday. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $32.35 and a 1-year high of $48.08. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $354.84 billion, a PE ratio of 14.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.33. 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) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.70 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.30%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. HSBC upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, UBS Group raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.58.

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.