Apollon Wealth Management LLC Acquires 41,728 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 45.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 134,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 41,728 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $4,518,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Bank of America by 97.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 41,290,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,130,538,000 after acquiring an additional 20,362,295 shares in the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1,071.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 12,880,492 shares in the last quarter. Darsana Capital Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 3rd quarter valued at $177,970,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 143.5% in the 3rd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 10,659,309 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $291,852,000 after buying an additional 6,281,690 shares during the period. Finally, J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Bank of America in the 3rd quarter worth $168,610,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on BAC shares. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. 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. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 target price (up previously from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.70.

Bank of America Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE BAC traded up $0.44 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $37.69. 28,403,702 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 40,729,758. The stock has a market capitalization of $294.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.37. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $36.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.23. Bank of America Co. has a 12 month low of $24.96 and a 12 month high of $38.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $25.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.49 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The business’s revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.94 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 33.22%.

About Bank of America

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.