9,221 Shares in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Acquired by Essex LLC

Essex LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 9,221 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $405,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,779 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $554,000 after acquiring an additional 2,584 shares in the last quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Bank of America by 9.6% during the third quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,561 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $459,000 after purchasing an additional 1,010 shares during the period. Fermata Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Bank of America by 5.7% in the third quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 6,778 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $269,000 after buying an additional 364 shares during the period. Iowa State Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 26.3% during the 3rd quarter. Iowa State Bank now owns 90,187 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,579,000 after buying an additional 18,783 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 34.3% during the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 461,267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,303,000 after buying an additional 117,850 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BAC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. HSBC raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley raised 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. Hsbc Global Res raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.58.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $47.43 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $45.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market cap of $363.89 billion, a PE ratio of 14.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $32.35 and a 1 year high of $48.08.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.70 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.69 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.30%.

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.