Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Purchased by Ausdal Financial Partners Inc.

Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. boosted its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 55.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,521 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,346 shares during the period. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $902,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,546,871,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700,141 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 59,613,837 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,620,028,000 after acquiring an additional 2,806,927 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 46,887,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,060,703,000 after acquiring an additional 1,671,610 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 42,929,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,886,769,000 after acquiring an additional 297,858 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in Bank of America by 37.1% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 37,819,980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,747,658,000 after purchasing an additional 10,231,001 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC stock opened at $42.81 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $325.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.86. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $34.15 and a 12-month high of $48.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.70 earnings per share. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BAC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Barclays lifted their target price on Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Bank of America from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.45.

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.