Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Lowers Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd lowered its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 9.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,774 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 621 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $194,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Bank of America by 97.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 41,290,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,130,538,000 after buying an additional 20,362,295 shares during the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 1,071.8% in the 4th quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 14,082,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $474,150,000 after purchasing an additional 12,880,492 shares during the last quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP bought a new position in Bank of America in the 3rd quarter worth about $177,970,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in Bank of America by 143.5% during the 3rd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 10,659,309 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $291,852,000 after purchasing an additional 6,281,690 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America during the 3rd quarter valued at about $168,610,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on BAC shares. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on Bank of America from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Wolfe Research raised Bank of America from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Bank of America from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $32.00 to $41.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.53.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE BAC opened at $38.12 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $24.96 and a twelve month high of $38.49. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $35.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.61. The firm has a market cap of $300.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.39.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $25.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.49 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.94%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.52%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.22%.

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.