First Manhattan CO. LLC. Acquires 1,116 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

First Manhattan CO. LLC. grew its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 108,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,116 shares during the quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $4,756,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BAC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Bank of America from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Robert W. Baird raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup lowered 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 report on Monday, March 24th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $51.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Bank of America from $58.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.25.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $41.85 on Friday. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $33.07 and a fifty-two week high of $48.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $315.21 billion, a PE ratio of 13.00, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.27. The company’s 50-day moving average is $39.69 and its 200-day moving average is $43.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $27.37 billion during 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current 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. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 30.95%.

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.