Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 868,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 41,635 shares during the quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $29,252,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,648,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,852,222,000 after purchasing an additional 1,397,469 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 41,833,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,408,520,000 after purchasing an additional 1,315,056 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 97.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 41,290,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,130,538,000 after purchasing an additional 20,362,295 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 37,649,708 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,267,666,000 after purchasing an additional 5,484,219 shares during the period. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 22,538,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $758,871,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250,096 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC traded up $0.16 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $37.85. 29,110,563 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 40,598,000. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $24.96 and a 12-month high of $38.49. 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 company has a market cap of $295.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.10, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.37. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $36.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.31.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $25.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.49 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.94%. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.54%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 33.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on BAC. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Bank of America from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Bank of America from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $32.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.70.

About Bank of America

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.