Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Position Increased by Leavell Investment Management Inc.

Leavell Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 37.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 15,951 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,342 shares during the quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $701,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. CX Institutional grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 5.3% in the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 33,263 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,320,000 after purchasing an additional 1,667 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 0.7% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 7,042,374 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $279,441,000 after buying an additional 50,849 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in Bank of America by 33.3% during the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 207,961 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,252,000 after purchasing an additional 51,903 shares during the period. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Bank of America by 8.7% during the third quarter. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 7,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $319,000 after purchasing an additional 604 shares during the period. Finally, Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Bank of America by 4.4% during the third quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,808 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $350,000 after purchasing an additional 369 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on BAC. UBS Group raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $43.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. HSBC upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.58.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $46.32 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $355.40 billion, a PE ratio of 14.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.33. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $45.76 and its 200-day moving average is $43.02. 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 $32.49 and a 52 week 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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.70 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.30%.

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.