Essential Planning LLC. Acquires Shares of 39,585 Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Essential Planning LLC. acquired a new stake in 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. The fund acquired 39,585 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,739,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Amundi boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 37.1% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 37,819,980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,747,658,000 after purchasing an additional 10,231,001 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 31,021.6% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 10,207,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $405,049,000 after acquiring an additional 10,175,100 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 81.4% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 12,776,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $561,513,000 after acquiring an additional 5,733,810 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 130.9% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,692,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $425,976,000 after acquiring an additional 5,493,817 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 193.4% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 7,608,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $301,898,000 after acquiring an additional 5,015,378 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BAC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Bank of America from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.64.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of BAC opened at $39.90 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $45.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The company has a market capitalization of $303.40 billion, a PE ratio of 12.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $34.15 and a fifty-two week high of $48.08.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. The business 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.70 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.61%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 32.30%.

About Bank of America

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.