Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. Grows Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. raised its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 32.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,868 shares during the period. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $691,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 23.1% during the 3rd quarter. Castle Rock Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,779 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $554,000 after purchasing an additional 2,584 shares during the last quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 9.6% in the third quarter. JGP Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,561 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $459,000 after buying an additional 1,010 shares in the last quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC boosted its position in Bank of America by 5.7% during the third quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 6,778 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $269,000 after acquiring an additional 364 shares during the last quarter. Iowa State Bank grew its stake in Bank of America by 26.3% during the 3rd quarter. Iowa State Bank now owns 90,187 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,579,000 after acquiring an additional 18,783 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its holdings in Bank of America by 34.3% in the 3rd quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 461,267 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,303,000 after acquiring an additional 117,850 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BAC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. HSBC upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.58.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.7 %

Bank of America stock opened at $47.43 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $363.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $32.35 and a twelve month high of $48.08. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.92.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. Bank of America’s revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.70 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.30%.

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.