Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators Has $768,000 Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lessened its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 9.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,467 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,834 shares during the period. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators’ holdings in Bank of America were worth $768,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth approximately $70,000. Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC increased its position in Bank of America by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC now owns 120,425 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,293,000 after acquiring an additional 17,600 shares during the period. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,644 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,215,000 after acquiring an additional 652 shares during the last quarter. Compass Capital Corp MA ADV acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth $277,000. Finally, Cordatus Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth $3,514,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on BAC shares. 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 report on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.58.

Bank of America Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $44.80 on Friday. 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 52 week low of $33.37 and a 52 week high of $48.08. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $45.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $343.71 billion, a PE ratio of 13.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 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 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.70 EPS. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.30%.

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.