Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Shares Acquired by TCW Group Inc.

TCW Group Inc. grew its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 264.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 149,737 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 108,660 shares during the period. TCW Group Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $5,064,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rossmore Private Capital grew its position in 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 valued at $894,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.2% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Kennedy Investment Group increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 0.6% during the fourth 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 raised its holdings in Bank of America by 34.0% during the fourth quarter. Private Ocean LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Selective Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Bank of America by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Selective Wealth Management Inc. now owns 17,351 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $586,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded Bank of America from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $32.00 to $41.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded Bank of America from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Evercore ISI raised 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. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Bank of America from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, HSBC reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $39.00 price target (up from $38.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.70.

Bank of America Stock Performance

BAC stock traded up $0.53 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $39.70. The company had a trading volume of 22,166,306 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,858,416. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $310.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.37. 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 one year low of $24.96 and a one year high of $39.84.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $25.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.23 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.