Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. Increases Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 11.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,089 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,565 shares during the quarter. Ferguson Wellman Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $572,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rossmore Private Capital grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Rossmore Private Capital now owns 26,537 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $894,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the period. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC grew 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 worth $336,000 after acquiring an additional 314 shares during the period. Kennedy Investment Group grew 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 worth $1,953,000 after acquiring an additional 321 shares during the period. Private Ocean LLC grew 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 worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the period. Finally, Selective Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 worth $586,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on BAC shares. Wolfe Research upgraded Bank of America from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Bank of America from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Bank of America from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $37.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Friday, June 14th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Bank of America from $39.50 to $40.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.79.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of BAC opened at $40.00 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $312.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.36. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $35.69. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $24.96 and a twelve month high of $40.31.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its 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 business had revenue of $25.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.49 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.40%. 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.