DAVENPORT & Co LLC Buys 18,379 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 4.9% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 390,384 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,379 shares during the quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $14,803,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in Bank of America in the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Fortis Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Bank of America in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 431.0% in the 4th quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 862 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Bank of America from $39.50 to $40.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, May 20th. HSBC reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $39.00 price target (up from $38.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.41.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:BAC traded up $0.07 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $41.81. 32,948,192 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 38,273,262. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $24.96 and a 52-week high of $41.90. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.52. The firm has a market cap of $326.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.44, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.35.

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 company had revenue of $25.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.22 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.22%.

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.