Madison Investment Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 317,607 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $13,959,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Swedbank AB increased 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 worth $279,441,000 after acquiring an additional 50,849 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 3.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,415,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $611,692,000 after acquiring an additional 569,385 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its position in Bank of America by 3.5% during the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 27,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,091,000 after buying an additional 923 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP grew its position in Bank of America by 63.7% during the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 31,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,265,000 after buying an additional 12,402 shares during the period. Finally, Haverford Trust Co grew its position in Bank of America by 6.4% during the third quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 34,412 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,365,000 after buying an additional 2,084 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer raised their price target 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 Global Res upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.64.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of BAC stock opened at $39.64 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $45.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.70. Bank of America Co. has a 12 month low of $34.15 and a 12 month high of $48.08. The company has a market capitalization of $301.40 billion, a PE ratio of 12.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32.

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 (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 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%. The business’s revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.70 EPS. Analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

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 $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.