Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lessened its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 17.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 88,581 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 19,104 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $3,359,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the first quarter worth $33,000. Fortis Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 431.0% in the 4th quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 862 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BAC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Bank of America from $39.50 to $40.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target 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. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.79.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC stock opened at $39.77 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market cap of $311.02 billion, a PE ratio of 13.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.36. Bank of America Co. has a 12 month low of $24.96 and a 12 month high of $40.34. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $38.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.10.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.06. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.94%. The firm had revenue of $25.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.94 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.