Eagle Ridge Investment Management Decreases Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Eagle Ridge Investment Management reduced its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 222,501 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,253 shares during the period. Eagle Ridge Investment Management’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $7,492,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fortis Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc lifted its position in Bank of America by 98.1% in the third quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 1,018 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 504 shares during the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. ZRC Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 192.3% in the fourth quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Ocean LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 34.0% in the fourth quarter. Private Ocean LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BAC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Bank of America from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $32.00 to $41.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 target price (up from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a report on Thursday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.53.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC traded down $0.15 on Monday, hitting $37.68. 14,937,014 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 41,110,984. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The business’s fifty day moving average is $36.13 and its 200 day moving average is $32.80. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $24.96 and a fifty-two week high of $38.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $297.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.39.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its 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. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The company had revenue of $25.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.19 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.55%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 33.22%.

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.