Dana Investment Advisors Inc. Sells 22,744 Shares of Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Dana Investment Advisors Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 302,378 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 22,744 shares during the quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $15,600,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Bank of America in the 2nd quarter valued at $5,091,641,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 124.8% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 17,619,837 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $833,771,000 after buying an additional 9,782,208 shares during the last quarter. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. bought a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 2nd quarter valued at about $202,439,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 881.5% in the second quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 4,210,388 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $199,236,000 after acquiring an additional 3,781,417 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 96.5% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 6,882,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $325,690,000 after acquiring an additional 3,379,335 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Bank of America

Here are the key news stories impacting Bank of America this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America is committing roughly $25 billion of its balance sheet to private-credit deals, a move that can boost fee income and lending yields as the bank leverages its scale to provide direct financing. This is a clear strategic push into higher-return, fee-generating activity. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Merrill (Bank of America’s wealth arm) launched the Direct Markets Group, a specialized trading desk for ultra-high-net-worth individuals and family offices ($50M+). That targets a lucrative client segment and could raise trading/commission revenues and client retention over time. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Bank of America research continues to be active in the market (examples include published stock picks and analyst actions), which raises the firm’s profile but has limited direct impact on BAC’s own fundamentals. These notes can influence market perception but are not company earnings or capital events. Read More.

Bank of America Price Performance

NYSE:BAC opened at $51.04 on Tuesday. Bank of America Corporation has a 52 week low of $33.06 and a 52 week high of $57.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $54.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.36. The firm has a market cap of $372.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.29.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 14th. The financial services provider reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $4.53 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.73 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 11.07% and a net margin of 16.23%.The company’s revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.82 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Investors of record on Friday, March 6th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.24%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BAC shares. Argus upped their price objective on Bank of America from $58.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $66.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $65.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Twenty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $60.30.

About Bank of America

Bank of America Corporation is a multinational financial services company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It provides a broad array of banking, investment, asset management and related financial and risk management products and services to individual consumers, small- and middle-market businesses, large corporations, governments and institutional investors. The firm operates through consumer banking, global wealth and investment management, global banking and markets businesses, offering capabilities across lending, deposits, payments, advisory and capital markets.

Its consumer-facing offerings include checking and savings accounts, mortgages, home equity lending, auto loans, credit cards and small business banking, supported by a nationwide branch network and digital channels.