Merit Financial Group LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Merit Financial Group LLC grew its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 34.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 135,385 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 34,881 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $5,950,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,546,871,000 after buying an additional 1,700,141 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,288,347,000 after acquiring an additional 895,884 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 4.0% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,215,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,794,164,000 after acquiring an additional 1,731,003 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 2.8% during the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 22,341,213 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $886,499,000 after acquiring an additional 601,211 shares during the period. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Bank of America by 0.4% in the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,042,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $676,264,000 after purchasing an additional 59,853 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE BAC opened at $46.54 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $31.40 and a 1 year high of $48.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $357.13 billion, a PE ratio of 16.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.70 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BAC shares. Citigroup raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. HSBC raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Truist Financial upped their price objective on Bank of America from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. One equities 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.58.

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.