Ellsworth Advisors LLC Raises Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Ellsworth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 8.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 47,546 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,745 shares during the period. Ellsworth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $2,090,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Accent Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 43.0% during the third quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 39,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,567,000 after purchasing an additional 11,873 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 237.6% during the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 51,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,035,000 after purchasing an additional 36,089 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,700,141 shares during the period. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 125.8% in the third quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 61,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,421,000 after purchasing an additional 33,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Copley Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the third quarter worth about $550,000. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE BAC opened at $46.54 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $357.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.93, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $31.40 and a 12-month high of $48.08.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.70 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.24 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on BAC shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Citigroup upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. StockNews.com raised Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.58.

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.