Applied Finance Capital Management LLC Buys 40,900 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,050,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 40,900 shares during the period. Bank of America comprises 2.0% of Applied Finance Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest position. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $46,152,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 3,940,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $173,168,000 after purchasing an additional 173,021 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth about $60,679,000. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 2,028,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,150,000 after buying an additional 10,377 shares during the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 3,458,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $152,006,000 after acquiring an additional 38,258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 42,929,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,886,769,000 after acquiring an additional 297,858 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BAC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on Bank of America from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Bank of America from $49.50 to $43.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. 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 report on Monday, March 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target 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, January 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Friday, March 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.31.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $35.58 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market cap of $270.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $43.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.90. Bank of America Co. has a one year low of $33.54 and a one year high of $48.08.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.70 earnings per share. Bank of America’s revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.92%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 32.30%.

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.