Cullen Investment Group LTD. Buys Shares of 38,038 Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Cullen Investment Group LTD. bought a new stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 38,038 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,281,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Bank of America by 108,111.3% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 193,168,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,397,725,000 after acquiring an additional 192,989,515 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth about $3,436,543,000. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 97.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 41,290,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,130,538,000 after buying an additional 20,362,295 shares during the period. Snider Financial Group boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 9,477.3% during the first quarter. Snider Financial Group now owns 14,448,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,956,000 after buying an additional 14,297,496 shares during the period. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 1,071.8% during the fourth quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 14,082,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $474,150,000 after buying an additional 12,880,492 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Bank of America from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Bank of America from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Bank of America from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Bank of America from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $32.00 to $41.00 in a 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 given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.29.

Bank of America Price Performance

NYSE:BAC opened at $35.95 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $283.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $24.96 and a 12-month high of $38.35. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $35.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $32.14.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 12th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $23.70 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 15.42%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.85 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.