American National Bank & Trust Co. VA Makes New Investment in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

American National Bank & Trust Co. VA acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 34,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,322,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fortis Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America during the third quarter worth $25,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 431.0% in the 4th quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 862 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on BAC. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Bank of America from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price target (up previously from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Erste Group Bank raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. HSBC reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $39.00 price target (up previously from $38.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.02.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE BAC traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $40.90. 17,100,666 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 35,032,784. The company has a 50 day moving average of $39.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $24.96 and a 52-week high of $41.20. The firm has a market cap of $319.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.15, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.35.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.06. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.94%. The company had revenue of $25.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. Bank of America’s revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.35%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.22%.

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.