Northwest Investment Counselors LLC Invests $33,000 in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 883 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $33,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rossmore Private Capital grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.2% during 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 stake in shares of Bank of America by 3.2% during 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 stake in shares of Bank of America by 0.6% during 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 stake in shares of Bank of America by 34.0% during 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. lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. now owns 17,351 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $586,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BAC. Citigroup increased their price objective on Bank of America from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Bank of America from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Bank of America from $39.50 to $40.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Bank of America from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price objective (up previously from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.79.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC traded up $0.77 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $40.26. 10,431,588 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 38,783,984. The company has a market capitalization of $314.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.36. 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 $40.34. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.83.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $25.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.49 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.94%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.94 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.21 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.22%.

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.