PFW Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 20,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $914,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,546,871,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700,141 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Bank of America by 1.6% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,288,347,000 after purchasing an additional 895,884 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,215,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,794,164,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731,003 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 22,341,213 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $886,499,000 after buying an additional 601,211 shares during the period. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,042,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $676,264,000 after buying an additional 59,853 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on BAC shares. Barclays lifted their target price on Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Bank of America from $57.00 to $54.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded 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 report on Friday, October 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.50.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Bank of America stock opened at $45.09 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average of $45.61 and a 200-day moving average of $42.27. The stock has a market cap of $345.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $31.27 and a 52 week high of $48.08.

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

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

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.