Mechanics Bank Trust Department Acquires 6,854 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Mechanics Bank Trust Department raised its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 22.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 37,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,854 shares during the period. Mechanics Bank Trust Department’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,575,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,226,989,000. Capital World Investors grew its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 10.6% in 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 during the period. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 37.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 37,819,980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,747,658,000 after buying an additional 10,231,001 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,935,940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,985,785,000 after buying an additional 9,980,859 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on BAC shares. Citigroup dropped 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. Phillip Securities upgraded Bank of America from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Bank of America from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Cowen started coverage on Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on Bank of America from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.50.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $44.14 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $332.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.27. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.54. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $33.07 and a twelve month high of $48.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78.

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

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is 30.95%.

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.