Employees Retirement System of Texas Acquires 17,880 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Employees Retirement System of Texas raised its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 12.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 158,455 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 17,880 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Bank of America were worth $69,640,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Collier Financial bought a new stake in Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc raised its position in Bank of America by 3,883.2% in the 4th quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc now owns 559,995 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 545,936 shares during the last quarter. Graney & King LLC bought a new position in Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 152.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 510 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on BAC. Robert W. Baird upgraded 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 report on Friday, March 7th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Bank of America from $51.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Bank of America from $49.50 to $43.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Barclays boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, UBS Group raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.31.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE BAC opened at $34.37 on Monday. The company 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $32.70 and a 52-week high of $48.08. The company has a fifty day moving average of $43.74 and a 200-day moving average of $43.94.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. The company’s revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

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