Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Stake Boosted by Stephens Consulting LLC

Stephens Consulting LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 16.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,084 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the period. Stephens Consulting LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $92,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BAC. Accent Capital Management LLC increased its position in Bank of America by 43.0% in the third quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 39,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,567,000 after buying an additional 11,873 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 237.6% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 51,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,035,000 after acquiring an additional 36,089 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Bank of America by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,546,871,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700,141 shares during the last quarter. Clarendon Private LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at about $798,000. Finally, Baker Avenue Asset Management LP grew its position in Bank of America by 125.8% in the 3rd quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 61,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,421,000 after purchasing an additional 33,983 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BAC. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective 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. Barclays boosted their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.58.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Bank of America stock opened at $46.23 on Tuesday. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $32.35 and a fifty-two week high of $48.08. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.77. 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 company has a market cap of $354.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.70 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.67 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 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.