478,350 Shares in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Acquired by Generali Asset Management SPA SGR

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR acquired a new position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 478,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $21,023,000. Bank of America accounts for 0.5% of Generali Asset Management SPA SGR’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Amundi boosted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 10,231,001 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 31,021.6% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 10,207,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $405,049,000 after buying an additional 10,175,100 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 81.4% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 12,776,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $561,513,000 after buying an additional 5,733,810 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 130.9% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,692,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $425,976,000 after purchasing an additional 5,493,817 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 193.4% in the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 5,015,378 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BAC. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Baird R W raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.64.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE BAC opened at $41.47 on Tuesday. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $34.15 and a 1 year high of $48.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market cap of $315.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.88, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $45.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.77.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released 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 net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.70 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 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 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is 32.30%.

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.