Warburton Capital Management LLC Purchases Shares of 14,754 Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Warburton Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 14,754 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $648,000. Bank of America makes up 0.5% of Warburton Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Amundi boosted its position in Bank of America by 37.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 37,819,980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,747,658,000 after buying an additional 10,231,001 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 31,021.6% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 81.4% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 12,776,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $561,513,000 after acquiring an additional 5,733,810 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 130.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,692,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $425,976,000 after acquiring an additional 5,493,817 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 193.4% in the third 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 during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on BAC. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted 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 note on Friday, January 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.64.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $39.62 on Wednesday. Bank of America Co. has a 12 month low of $34.15 and a 12 month high of $48.08. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $301.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.30, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.70 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 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.