Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Acquired by Smead Capital Management Inc.

Smead Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 16.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,963,932 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 994,072 shares during the period. Bank of America makes up about 4.2% of Smead Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Smead Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.09% of Bank of America worth $234,476,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 108,111.3% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 193,168,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,397,725,000 after buying an additional 192,989,515 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,436,543,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,397,469 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 97.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 41,290,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,130,538,000 after buying an additional 20,362,295 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Bank of America by 1.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 40,518,019 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,109,383,000 after purchasing an additional 746,756 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of America Stock Up 1.4 %

NYSE:BAC traded up $0.49 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $35.72. 23,355,292 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 41,295,941. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $35.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $24.96 and a fifty-two week high of $38.35. The firm has a market cap of $281.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.37, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.39.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.06. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The company had revenue of $25.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BAC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 target price (up from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Citigroup upped their target price on Bank of America from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Bank of America from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $32.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Bank of America from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on Bank of America from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.29.

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.