Alerus Financial NA Has $4.76 Million Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Alerus Financial NA grew its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 823.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 108,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 96,571 shares during the quarter. Alerus Financial NA’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $4,760,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Bank of America by 3.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,415,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $611,692,000 after purchasing an additional 569,385 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America during the third quarter worth $606,000. Freedom Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 30,917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,227,000 after acquiring an additional 3,910 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 3rd quarter valued at about $13,162,000. Finally, Blueshift Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Bank of America during the third quarter worth about $427,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on BAC shares. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Baird R W raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. HSBC upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.45.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $42.61 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $323.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.23, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $44.55 and its 200 day moving average is $43.85. 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 one year low of $34.15 and a one year high of $48.08.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its 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 business 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 earned $0.70 earnings per share. Bank of America’s revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.44%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 32.30%.

Bank of America 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.