Dakota Wealth Management Cuts Stake in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Dakota Wealth Management trimmed its stake in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 20.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 192,109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 48,291 shares during the quarter. Dakota Wealth Management’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $9,911,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Quaker Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 246.5% during the 2nd quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC now owns 523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 880 shares during the period. Steph & Co. boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 224.3% in the third quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Collier Financial acquired a new stake in Bank of America during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC stock opened at $51.04 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $54.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $52.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $372.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.29. Bank of America Corporation has a 12 month low of $33.06 and a 12 month high of $57.55.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 14th. The financial services provider reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.02. Bank of America had a return on equity of 11.07% and a net margin of 16.23%.The business had revenue of $4.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.82 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 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 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.24%.

Bank of America News Roundup

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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BAC. CICC Research initiated coverage on Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $62.00 target price for the company. Wolfe Research cut shares of Bank of America from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Twenty-two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.