Sarasin & Partners LLP Purchases New Shares in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Sarasin & Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 30,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,318,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its holdings in Bank of America by 31,021.6% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 10,207,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $405,049,000 after acquiring an additional 10,175,100 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Bank of America by 1,432.1% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,151,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $244,627,000 after acquiring an additional 5,749,567 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its holdings in Bank of America by 193.4% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 7,608,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $301,898,000 after acquiring an additional 5,015,378 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 3,550.7% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,547,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,804,560,000 after acquiring an additional 4,423,215 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D1 Capital Partners L.P. acquired a new position in Bank of America during the 3rd quarter worth $174,858,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of America Price Performance

NYSE BAC opened at $46.54 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $357.13 billion, a PE ratio of 16.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $45.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.43. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $31.40 and a 12-month high of $48.08.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. Bank of America had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.70 earnings per share. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BAC. HSBC upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.58.

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.