Blume Capital Management Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Blume Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 271,147 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 13,080 shares during the quarter. Bank of America accounts for 2.4% of Blume Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Blume Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $9,130,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in BAC. Baystate Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Bank of America by 28.1% in the third quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC now owns 21,135 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $579,000 after purchasing an additional 4,634 shares during the period. Waldron Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Bank of America by 5.9% in the third quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 48,715 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after purchasing an additional 2,716 shares during the period. Washington Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 3rd quarter valued at $840,000. Kanawha Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Kanawha Capital Management LLC now owns 17,116 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $469,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Finally, NBT Bank N A NY raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 78.8% in the 3rd quarter. NBT Bank N A NY now owns 48,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,330,000 after buying an additional 21,403 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on BAC shares. Erste Group Bank upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. HSBC reaffirmed 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 reissued 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Bank of America from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Bank of America from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.70.

Bank of America Price Performance

NYSE:BAC traded up $0.29 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $38.00. 5,525,601 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 40,114,066. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $36.61 and its 200-day moving average is $33.31. The stock has a market cap of $297.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $24.96 and a 1-year high of $38.49.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.06. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.94%. The business had revenue of $25.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

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 issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. 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.