BSW Wealth Partners Acquires Shares of 5,707 Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

BSW Wealth Partners bought a new stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 5,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $251,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bensler LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth $241,000. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 55,802 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,452,000 after acquiring an additional 819 shares in the last quarter. VCI Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 22.2% during the fourth quarter. VCI Wealth Management LLC now owns 38,019 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,671,000 after acquiring an additional 6,918 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 912.6% during the fourth quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 63,801 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,804,000 after acquiring an additional 57,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Griffin Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 343,197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,084,000 after purchasing an additional 17,579 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC stock opened at $46.74 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $358.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $32.35 and a 12-month high of $48.08. The business’s 50 day moving average is $45.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. The business’s revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.70 EPS. Analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.23%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.30%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on BAC shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays upped their target price on Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Phillip Securities raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.58.

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.