Herold Advisors Inc. Buys 661 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Herold Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 47,093 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 661 shares during the quarter. Herold Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,586,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 97.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd increased its stake 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 valued at $474,150,000 after purchasing an additional 12,880,492 shares in the last quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP bought a new stake in Bank of America during the 3rd quarter valued at $177,970,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Bank of America by 143.5% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America during the 3rd quarter valued at $168,610,000. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on BAC. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Odeon Capital Group downgraded shares of Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.90 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.53.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $37.83 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $298.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.39. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $24.96 and a fifty-two week high of $38.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The company’s 50-day moving average is $36.13 and its 200 day moving average is $32.72.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $25.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.49 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The company’s revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. 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 firm 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%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.