First Bank & Trust Raises Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

First Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,533 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 458 shares during the period. First Bank & Trust’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $331,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Collier Financial acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc raised its position in Bank of America by 3,883.2% in the 4th quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc now owns 559,995 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 545,936 shares during the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in Bank of America during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Bank of America by 152.7% during the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 510 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Stock Performance

BAC opened at $45.31 on Friday. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $33.17 and a 1-year high of $48.08. The stock has a market cap of $347.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.33. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its earnings results 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 return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. Bank of America’s revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued 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 2.30%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.30%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BAC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. HSBC raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of America currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.58.

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.