Breed s Hill Capital LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Breed s Hill Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 45.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,152 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,165 shares during the period. Breed s Hill Capital LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $446,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Bank of America by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 142,289,199 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,243,000,000 after purchasing an additional 2,033,229 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Bank of America by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 122,437,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,381,126,000 after purchasing an additional 11,691,451 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at about $5,226,989,000. Capital World Investors raised its position in Bank of America by 23.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 88,210,527 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,876,853,000 after purchasing an additional 17,031,143 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Bank of America by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,935,940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,985,785,000 after purchasing an additional 9,980,859 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Bank of America stock opened at $43.27 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market cap of $325.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.44, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.27. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $33.07 and a fifty-two week high of $48.08.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $27.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $26.83 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. As a group, analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.40%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 30.95%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BAC. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Bank of America from $51.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Phillip Securities raised Bank of America from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on 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. Wall Street Zen cut Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Bank of America from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.50.

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.