Hartford Funds Management Co LLC Buys 5,968 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Hartford Funds Management Co LLC grew its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 20.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 35,613 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,968 shares during the quarter. Bank of America makes up approximately 0.1% of Hartford Funds Management Co LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,199,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brookstone Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 97.4% in the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 158,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,262,000 after buying an additional 78,012 shares during the last quarter. RMR Wealth Builders increased its position in Bank of America by 100.2% in the 3rd quarter. RMR Wealth Builders now owns 30,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $835,000 after acquiring an additional 15,273 shares in the last quarter. Waypoint Wealth Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Bank of America in the third quarter worth about $608,000. Hoertkorn Richard Charles lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 0.4% during the third quarter. Hoertkorn Richard Charles now owns 320,467 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,774,000 after purchasing an additional 1,314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Accurate Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 2.4% during the third quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 29,061 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $801,000 after purchasing an additional 668 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BAC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Bank of America from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Bank of America from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (up from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Bank of America from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.59.

Bank of America Trading Down 1.5 %

Bank of America stock traded down $0.54 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $37.01. 30,280,209 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 41,130,859. The firm has a market capitalization of $291.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.80, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.39. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $24.96 and a fifty-two week high of $38.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.95.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $25.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.49 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.94%. The company’s revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.94 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.22%.

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.