Kovack Advisors Inc. Trims Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Kovack Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 28,522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 581 shares during the quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $960,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Bank of America by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,648,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,852,222,000 after buying an additional 1,397,469 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 97.3% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Bank of America by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 40,518,019 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,109,383,000 after buying an additional 746,756 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 22,538,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $758,871,000 after acquiring an additional 1,250,096 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 28.7% during the 3rd quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 19,430,142 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $531,997,000 after acquiring an additional 4,335,882 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of Bank of America stock traded down $0.08 during trading on Friday, hitting $37.83. 28,668,680 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 40,953,860. The firm has a market cap of $298.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $24.96 and a 52-week high of $38.49. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.72.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $25.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.49 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.94%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.54%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.22%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Bank of America from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Bank of America from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Odeon Capital Group downgraded Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.90 price target for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Bank of America from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $32.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Bank of America from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.53.

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.