Cullen Investment Group LTD. Boosts Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Cullen Investment Group LTD. lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 39,243 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,725,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Wright Investors Service Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 86,417 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,798,000 after purchasing an additional 564 shares during the period. Marcum Wealth LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 38,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,682,000 after acquiring an additional 1,333 shares during the last quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC now owns 8,685 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $382,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1,785.0% during the fourth quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 7,540 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $331,000 after purchasing an additional 7,140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Financial Corp IN increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 11,778 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $518,000 after purchasing an additional 1,106 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of BAC opened at $45.09 on Tuesday. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $31.27 and a 12-month high of $48.08. The business’s 50 day moving average is $45.61 and its 200 day moving average is $42.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a market capitalization of $345.97 billion, a PE ratio of 16.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 37.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BAC. Phillip Securities raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $43.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Bank of America from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $48.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.50.

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.