Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Sells 128,209 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lowered its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,258,035 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 128,209 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $109,698,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 879.9% during the third quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 2,244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 2,015 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1,235.4% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 75,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,068,000 after acquiring an additional 69,875 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 13.0% during the third quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 15,050 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $412,000 after acquiring an additional 1,737 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 11.7% during the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 37,026 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,014,000 after acquiring an additional 3,892 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ballast Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 11.0% during the third quarter. Ballast Inc. now owns 41,723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,142,000 after acquiring an additional 4,132 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on BAC. Erste Group Bank upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Bank of America from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price target (up from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. HSBC reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $39.00 target price (up from $38.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased 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. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.53.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE BAC opened at $37.83 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $298.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $36.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.72. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $24.96 and a twelve month high of $38.49.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $25.82 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. 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.