Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. Invests $163,000 in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,854 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $163,000.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BAC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective 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. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. HSBC reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $39.00 target price (up from $38.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price target (up previously from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.70.

Bank of America Stock Performance

BAC stock traded down $0.14 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $37.70. 32,799,608 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 40,510,223. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $294.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.31.

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

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.22%.

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.