Nicolet Advisory Services LLC Boosts Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Nicolet Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 31,984 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,202 shares during the quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,443,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BAC. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,226,989,000. Amundi lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 37.1% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 37,819,980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,747,658,000 after acquiring an additional 10,231,001 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its position in Bank of America by 31,021.6% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 10,207,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $405,049,000 after purchasing an additional 10,175,100 shares during the period. Swedbank AB raised its position in 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 valued at $561,513,000 after purchasing an additional 5,733,810 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 130.9% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,692,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $425,976,000 after purchasing an additional 5,493,817 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Bank of America from $51.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup dropped their price objective 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. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.31.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC opened at $41.87 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $44.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.96. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $34.15 and a fifty-two week high of $48.08. The firm has a market cap of $318.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. The business’s revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.70 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.30%.

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.