Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Grows Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 35.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 860,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 226,246 shares during the quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $37,797,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 1.2% during the third 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. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 4.0% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,215,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,794,164,000 after acquiring an additional 1,731,003 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 2.8% during the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 22,341,213 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $886,499,000 after acquiring an additional 601,211 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Bank of America by 0.4% during the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,042,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $676,264,000 after acquiring an additional 59,853 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in Bank of America by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 15,857,556 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $696,940,000 after acquiring an additional 285,117 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on BAC shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. UBS Group raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, HSBC raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bank of America currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.58.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE BAC opened at $46.98 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $45.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.05. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $32.49 and a twelve month high of $48.08. The company has a market capitalization of $360.47 billion, a PE ratio of 14.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results 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. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.70 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.21%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.