Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd Takes $2.59 Million Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 59,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,593,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 3,940,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $173,168,000 after buying an additional 173,021 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,679,000. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in 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 valued at $89,150,000 after acquiring an additional 10,377 shares during the last quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 43.0% in the third quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 39,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,567,000 after acquiring an additional 11,873 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Keybank National Association OH increased its stake in 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 valued at $152,006,000 after acquiring an additional 38,258 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on BAC shares. Baird R W raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of 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, UBS Group upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $43.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.64.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $40.97 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $311.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.71. Bank of America Co. has a 12 month low of $34.15 and a 12 month 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 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders 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 2.54%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.30%.

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.