Bank OZK Sells 1,860 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Bank OZK trimmed its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 84,401 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,860 shares during the period. Bank of America makes up approximately 1.4% of Bank OZK’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Bank OZK’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $2,842,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fortis Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc boosted its stake in Bank of America by 98.1% during the 3rd quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 1,018 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares during the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. ZRC Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 192.3% in the 4th quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Ocean LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 34.0% in the 4th quarter. Private Ocean LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 325 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BAC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wolfe Research upgraded Bank of America from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Bank of America from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Bank of America from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. HSBC restated a “hold” rating and issued a $39.00 target price (up previously from $38.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Bank of America from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $32.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.53.

Bank of America Stock Performance

BAC stock traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $37.83. 28,668,680 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 40,953,860. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $36.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $24.96 and a 52 week high of $38.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $298.50 billion, a PE ratio of 13.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $25.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.49 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.19 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.54%. 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.