Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Stock Holdings Lifted by Simmons Bank

Simmons Bank lifted its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 234,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,537 shares during the quarter. Simmons Bank’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $7,905,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 97.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 41,290,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,130,538,000 after acquiring an additional 20,362,295 shares during the period. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1,071.8% in the 4th quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 14,082,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $474,150,000 after acquiring an additional 12,880,492 shares during the period. Darsana Capital Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 3rd quarter worth about $177,970,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its stake in Bank of America by 143.5% during the 3rd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 10,659,309 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $291,852,000 after buying an additional 6,281,690 shares during the period. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America during the 3rd quarter valued at about $168,610,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on BAC shares. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 target price (up previously from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of America has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.70.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.3 %

NYSE:BAC traded down $0.13 on Wednesday, hitting $37.71. 17,527,820 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 40,320,184. The stock has a market capitalization of $294.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.37. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $24.96 and a 52 week high of $38.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $36.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.31.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.06. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The company had revenue of $25.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.49 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.94 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.55%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.22%.

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.