Empower Advisory Group LLC Has $95.51 Million Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Empower Advisory Group LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 39.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,173,119 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,416,633 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $95,509,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Accent Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 worth $1,567,000 after buying an additional 11,873 shares in the last quarter. Summit Global Investments boosted its stake in 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 worth $2,035,000 after buying an additional 36,089 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 1.2% during 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 buying an additional 1,700,141 shares in the last quarter. Clarendon Private LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at $798,000. Finally, Baker Avenue Asset Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 125.8% in the 3rd quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 61,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,421,000 after purchasing an additional 33,983 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $46.98 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $360.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $32.49 and a 1-year 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $45.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.12.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. The firm 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.70 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on BAC shares. Citigroup upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.58.

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.