Parnassus Investments LLC Sells 1,205,132 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Parnassus Investments LLC reduced its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,182,507 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,205,132 shares during the period. Bank of America makes up 2.1% of Parnassus Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Parnassus Investments LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $930,971,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Amundi lifted its stake in Bank of America by 37.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 37,819,980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,747,658,000 after purchasing an additional 10,231,001 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in Bank of America by 31,021.6% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 10,207,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $405,049,000 after purchasing an additional 10,175,100 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in Bank of America by 81.4% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 12,776,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $561,513,000 after purchasing an additional 5,733,810 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Bank of America by 130.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,692,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $425,976,000 after purchasing an additional 5,493,817 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its stake in Bank of America by 193.4% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 7,608,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $301,898,000 after purchasing an additional 5,015,378 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and three 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 $48.64.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $39.64 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $301.40 billion, a PE ratio of 12.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. 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 fifty-two week low of $34.15 and a fifty-two week high of $48.08. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $45.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.70.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The business’s revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.70 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.