Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. Makes New Investment in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,580 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $69,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Norges Bank bought a new position in Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,226,989,000. Amundi increased its position in Bank of America by 37.1% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 37,819,980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,747,658,000 after buying an additional 10,231,001 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its holdings in Bank of America by 31,021.6% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 10,207,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $405,049,000 after buying an additional 10,175,100 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 81.4% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 12,776,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $561,513,000 after buying an additional 5,733,810 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 130.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,692,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $425,976,000 after acquiring an additional 5,493,817 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $41.24 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $44.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.93. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $34.15 and a 1-year high of $48.08. The firm has a market cap of $313.50 billion, a PE ratio of 12.81, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. 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 announced 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 for the quarter was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.70 EPS. Research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.52%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. HSBC upgraded 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. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.45.

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.