R Squared Ltd Invests $84,000 in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $84,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new position in Bank of America during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its position 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 valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 510 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its stake in Bank of America by 525.9% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 1,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 852 shares during the period. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the third quarter worth about $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BAC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.58.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.1 %

BAC stock opened at $46.68 on Friday. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $32.35 and a 1-year high of $48.08. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $358.19 billion, a PE ratio of 14.50, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.67 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 32.30%.

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.