Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Increases Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 7.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,092,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 80,210 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $48,024,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Accent Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 43.0% in the 3rd quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 39,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,567,000 after purchasing an additional 11,873 shares in the last quarter. Summit Global Investments lifted its position in Bank of America by 237.6% during the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 51,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,035,000 after buying an additional 36,089 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Bank of America by 1.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,546,871,000 after buying an additional 1,700,141 shares during the period. Clarendon Private LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at $798,000. Finally, Baker Avenue Asset Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 125.8% during the 3rd quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 61,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,421,000 after acquiring an additional 33,983 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on BAC shares. Phillip Securities upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.58.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $47.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $32.35 and a 12-month high of $48.08. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $45.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $366.33 billion, a PE ratio of 14.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.70 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.67 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 32.30%.

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.