Rahlfs Capital LLC Takes Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Rahlfs Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 14,650 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $644,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hurley Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at about $73,000. Payden & Rygel increased its position in Bank of America by 46.8% in the 4th quarter. Payden & Rygel now owns 503,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $22,133,000 after acquiring an additional 160,500 shares during the period. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Bank of America by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC now owns 23,887 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,050,000 after acquiring an additional 602 shares during the last quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc. lifted its position in Bank of America by 75.6% during the 4th quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc. now owns 228,315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,034,000 after acquiring an additional 98,319 shares during the period. Finally, Aviva PLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 4,198,358 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $184,518,000 after purchasing an additional 531,148 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $34.37 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $261.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $43.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.88. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $33.67 and a 52-week high of $48.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.70 EPS. Bank of America’s revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.30%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Baird R W raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Bank of America from $51.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays raised their price objective on Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Bank of America from $49.50 to $43.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.31.

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.