Main Street Research LLC Acquires New Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Main Street Research LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 6,629 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC now owns 39,526 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,309,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the period. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,976 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $336,000 after acquiring an additional 314 shares during the period. Kennedy Investment Group increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 58,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,953,000 after acquiring an additional 321 shares during the period. Private Ocean LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 34.0% in the 4th quarter. Private Ocean LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the period. Finally, Selective Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Bank of America by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. now owns 17,351 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $586,000 after buying an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Odeon Capital Group lowered shares of Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.90 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Bank of America from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $32.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.29.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BAC traded down $1.47 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $34.48. 64,447,110 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 40,760,801. The stock has a market cap of $272.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.31, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $24.96 and a twelve month high of $38.35. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $35.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.14.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 12th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. Bank of America had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 15.42%. The business had revenue of $22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 31.27%.

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.