WealthCare Investment Partners LLC Grows Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

WealthCare Investment Partners LLC grew its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 13.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,966 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,818 shares during the quarter. WealthCare Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $511,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 108,111.3% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 193,168,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,397,725,000 after purchasing an additional 192,989,515 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,436,543,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 2.1% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,648,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,852,222,000 after purchasing an additional 1,397,469 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 97.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 41,290,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,130,538,000 after purchasing an additional 20,362,295 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 40,518,019 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,109,383,000 after purchasing an additional 746,756 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Up 2.0 %

NYSE BAC traded up $0.74 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $37.83. 36,334,959 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 41,116,594. The stock has a market cap of $298.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $34.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.26. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $24.96 and a 1 year high of $37.85.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 12th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.01. Bank of America had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 15.42%. The company had revenue of $22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 29th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 31.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on BAC. Oppenheimer cut their price target on Bank of America from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Odeon Capital Group cut Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.90 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Bank of America from $37.00 to $36.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Citigroup raised their target price on Bank of America from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Bank of America from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $32.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.65.

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.