Syon Capital LLC Purchases 54,964 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Syon Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 125.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 98,789 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 54,964 shares during the period. Syon Capital LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $3,326,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 97.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 41,290,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,130,538,000 after purchasing an additional 20,362,295 shares during the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd grew its holdings in Bank of America by 1,071.8% during the 4th quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 14,082,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $474,150,000 after acquiring an additional 12,880,492 shares during the period. Darsana Capital Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 3rd quarter valued at $177,970,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 143.5% in the 3rd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 10,659,309 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $291,852,000 after purchasing an additional 6,281,690 shares during the period. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 3rd quarter worth about $168,610,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer cut their price target on Bank of America from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price target (up from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Bank of America from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $32.00 to $41.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Bank of America from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.53.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:BAC traded down $0.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $37.83. 28,526,467 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 41,438,316. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $36.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.64. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $24.96 and a 12-month high of $38.49. The stock has a market cap of $298.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.06. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The business had revenue of $25.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.54%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.22%.

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.