Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Acquired by Artisan Partners Limited Partnership

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,477,372 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 104,353 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $108,880,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Amundi grew 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 worth $1,747,658,000 after purchasing an additional 10,231,001 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its stake 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 worth $405,049,000 after buying an additional 10,175,100 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 81.4% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 12,776,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $561,513,000 after acquiring an additional 5,733,810 shares during the last quarter. 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 during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 193.4% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 7,608,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $301,898,000 after acquiring an additional 5,015,378 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on BAC shares. Baird R W upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. HSBC upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup cut their price target 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. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Friday, March 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.45.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $42.61 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.85. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $34.15 and a twelve month high of $48.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The company has a market capitalization of $323.96 billion, a PE ratio of 13.23, a P/E/G 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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.70 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.44%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio 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.