Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Bought by Saiph Capital LLC

Saiph Capital LLC increased its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 107,659 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,264 shares during the period. Bank of America comprises 1.7% of Saiph Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Saiph Capital LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $4,732,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in Bank of America by 0.7% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 7,042,374 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $279,441,000 after acquiring an additional 50,849 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 3.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,415,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $611,692,000 after acquiring an additional 569,385 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of America during the third quarter worth about $1,516,000. Aviance Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Aviance Capital Partners LLC now owns 35,276 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,400,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tranquility Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Tranquility Partners LLC now owns 18,281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $725,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:BAC opened at $41.61 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $316.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $34.15 and a twelve month high of $48.08. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $45.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.78.

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. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.70 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 2.50%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 32.30%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. HSBC upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.64.

Bank of America Company 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.