US Asset Management LLC Acquires New Shares in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

US Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 35,905 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,209,000. Bank of America makes up approximately 1.2% of US Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Breed s Hill Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at about $206,000. Wealthspire Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 117,545 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,958,000 after purchasing an additional 7,838 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 23,312 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $785,000 after purchasing an additional 537 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. National Pension Service now owns 11,445,821 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $385,381,000 after purchasing an additional 235,773 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blume Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Bank of America by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc. now owns 271,147 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,130,000 after buying an additional 13,080 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of BAC stock traded up $0.17 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $38.45. The company had a trading volume of 13,990,065 shares, compared to its average volume of 40,061,832. The company’s fifty day moving average is $36.76 and its 200 day moving average is $33.38. 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 fifty-two week low of $24.96 and a fifty-two week high of $38.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $300.69 billion, a PE ratio of 13.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.37.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its earnings results 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 the consensus estimate of $25.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. 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 company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BAC. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Bank of America from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wolfe Research raised shares of 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 note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.70.

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.