Lewis Asset Management LLC Trims Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Lewis Asset Management LLC decreased its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 6.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,913 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 322 shares during the quarter. Lewis Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $216,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Advisory Alpha LLC increased its holdings in Bank of America by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 25,974 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,033,000 after acquiring an additional 1,513 shares in the last quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 2nd quarter worth about $553,000. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Birmingham Capital Management Co. Inc. AL now owns 83,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,329,000 after buying an additional 625 shares during the last quarter. RiverFront Investment Group LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. RiverFront Investment Group LLC now owns 15,610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $621,000 after buying an additional 273 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Financial Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,589,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $46.74 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $32.35 and a 1 year high of $48.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $358.59 billion, a PE ratio of 14.51, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.70 EPS. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.30%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BAC. Citigroup raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. StockNews.com raised Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.58.

Bank of America Company 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.