Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations Makes New Investment in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 253,621 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $11,147,000. Bank of America comprises approximately 0.5% of Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations’ holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,546,871,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700,141 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position 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 buying an additional 2,806,927 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 3.7% during 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 buying an additional 1,671,610 shares during the period. 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 worth $1,886,769,000 after buying an additional 297,858 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 37.1% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $42.81 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $325.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.29, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $34.15 and a 52 week high of $48.08.

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

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.43%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.30%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of 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 given a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of America presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.45.

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.