Investment Partners LTD. Acquires New Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Investment Partners LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 6,658 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $224,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Bank of America by 2.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,648,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,852,222,000 after acquiring an additional 1,397,469 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Bank of America by 97.3% during the third 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Bank of America by 1.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 40,518,019 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,109,383,000 after purchasing an additional 746,756 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its position in Bank of America by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 22,538,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $758,871,000 after purchasing an additional 1,250,096 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Bank of America by 28.7% during the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 19,430,142 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $531,997,000 after purchasing an additional 4,335,882 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

BAC traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $37.83. 28,668,680 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 40,953,860. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $298.50 billion, a PE ratio of 13.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.39. The company’s 50-day moving average is $36.13 and its 200 day moving average is $32.72. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $24.96 and a 52 week high of $38.49.

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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $25.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.19 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on BAC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of 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. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Bank of America from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $32.00 to $41.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. HSBC reissued a “hold” rating and set a $39.00 price objective (up from $38.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 target price (up from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.53.

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.