Ethic Inc. Has $6.54 Million Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Ethic Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 121.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 148,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 81,541 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $6,543,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Ewing Morris & Co. Investment Partners Ltd. bought a new position in Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,238,000. First Manhattan CO. LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. First Manhattan CO. LLC. now owns 108,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,756,000 after purchasing an additional 1,116 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co increased its stake in Bank of America by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 199,383 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,763,000 after purchasing an additional 21,374 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 195,863 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,608,000 after buying an additional 5,526 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citizens Business Bank lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 61.8% in the fourth quarter. Citizens Business Bank now owns 127,995 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,625,000 after buying an additional 48,868 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Bank of America from $49.50 to $43.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Baird R W upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Bank of America from $51.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bank of America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.25.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $41.85 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $315.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.27. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $33.07 and a 52-week high of $48.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.48.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $27.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.83 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 30.95%.

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.