Van ECK Associates Corp Purchases 78,408 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,315,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 78,408 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $178,960,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fortis Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc increased its stake in Bank of America by 98.1% in the third quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 1,018 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares during the period. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. ZRC Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 192.3% in the fourth quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Ocean LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 34.0% in the 4th quarter. Private Ocean LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 325 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Stock Performance

BAC stock traded down $0.01 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $37.54. The company had a trading volume of 6,825,159 shares, compared to its average volume of 40,843,250. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $24.96 and a twelve month high of $38.49. The company has a market cap of $296.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.39. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.88.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.06. The firm 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders 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 2.56%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 33.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. 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 note on Thursday, April 4th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Bank of America from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Bank of America from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.59.

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.