PDS Planning Inc Grows Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

PDS Planning Inc increased its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 6.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,263 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,620 shares during the quarter. PDS Planning Inc’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,154,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,546,871,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700,141 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 59,613,837 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,620,028,000 after purchasing an additional 2,806,927 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 46,887,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,060,703,000 after purchasing an additional 1,671,610 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 42,929,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,886,769,000 after acquiring an additional 297,858 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 37.1% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 37,819,980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,747,658,000 after acquiring an additional 10,231,001 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $41.47 on Tuesday. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $34.15 and a 52-week high of $48.08. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $45.11 and a 200-day moving average of $43.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $315.26 billion, a PE ratio of 12.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.70 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.51%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BAC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. UBS Group upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.64.

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.