Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Grows Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 241,735 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,704 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $10,624,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Amundi boosted its position in Bank of America by 37.1% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 37,819,980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,747,658,000 after acquiring an additional 10,231,001 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 31,021.6% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 10,207,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $405,049,000 after purchasing an additional 10,175,100 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 81.4% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 12,776,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $561,513,000 after purchasing an additional 5,733,810 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 130.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,692,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $425,976,000 after purchasing an additional 5,493,817 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 193.4% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 7,608,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $301,898,000 after purchasing an additional 5,015,378 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on BAC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. UBS Group raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.64.

Bank of America Trading Down 3.9 %

NYSE BAC opened at $39.79 on Tuesday. 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 Co. has a 52 week low of $34.15 and a 52 week high of $48.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $302.55 billion, a PE ratio of 12.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $45.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.76.

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, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.70 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

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 paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.