Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Purchased by Catalyst Financial Partners LLC

Catalyst Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,312 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 537 shares during the quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $785,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Bank of America by 2.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,648,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,852,222,000 after acquiring an additional 1,397,469 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 1,315,056 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in 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 last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 5,484,219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 22,538,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $758,871,000 after buying an additional 1,250,096 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $39.50 to $40.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Bank of America from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Odeon Capital Group lowered shares of Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.90 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price target (up previously from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.70.

Bank of America Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of BAC traded up $0.58 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $38.29. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 26,851,139 shares, compared to its average volume of 40,358,504. The company’s 50 day moving average is $36.68 and its 200 day moving average is $33.34. The stock has a market cap of $299.44 billion, a PE ratio of 13.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.37. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $24.96 and a 12-month high of $38.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

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

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.22%.

Bank of America Company 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.