Washington Trust Bank Boosts Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Washington Trust Bank boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 54,857 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 677 shares during the period. Washington Trust Bank’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $2,411,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of BAC. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 3,940,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $173,168,000 after acquiring an additional 173,021 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,679,000. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 2,028,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,150,000 after purchasing an additional 10,377 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 3,458,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $152,006,000 after purchasing an additional 38,258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised 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 purchasing an additional 297,858 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of BAC stock opened at $42.47 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $322.88 billion, a PE ratio of 13.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.77. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $34.15 and a 1 year high of $48.08.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. Bank of America’s revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.70 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid 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 dividend yield of 2.45%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.30%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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