First Bank & Trust Boosts Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

First Bank & Trust raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 6.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 7,533 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 458 shares during the period. First Bank & Trust’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $331,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Bank of America by 1.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,700,141 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $1,794,164,000 after buying an additional 1,731,003 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 601,211 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 0.4% during 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 buying an additional 59,853 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 15,857,556 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $696,940,000 after buying an additional 285,117 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of BAC stock opened at $45.31 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $45.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.27. The stock has a market cap of $347.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $33.17 and a fifty-two 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during 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%. The business’s revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.70 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.69 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BAC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $43.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” 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 issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.58.

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.