Choate Investment Advisors Raises Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Choate Investment Advisors boosted its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 13.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 63,756 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,779 shares during the period. Choate Investment Advisors’ holdings in Bank of America were worth $2,802,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Amundi boosted its position in Bank of America by 37.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 37,819,980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,747,658,000 after buying an additional 10,231,001 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its position in Bank of America by 31,021.6% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 10,207,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $405,049,000 after buying an additional 10,175,100 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its position in Bank of America by 81.4% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 12,776,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $561,513,000 after buying an additional 5,733,810 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its position in Bank of America by 130.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,692,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $425,976,000 after buying an additional 5,493,817 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its position in Bank of America by 193.4% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 7,608,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $301,898,000 after buying an additional 5,015,378 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Up 3.3 %

NYSE BAC opened at $40.97 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $45.19 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.74. Bank of America Co. has a one year low of $34.15 and a one year high of $48.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The company has a market cap of $311.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.70 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company 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 yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.30%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Baird R W upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Robert W. Baird raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price target on Bank of America from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.64.

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.