BankPlus Trust Department Invests $117,000 in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

BankPlus Trust Department bought a new position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 2,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $117,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Swedbank AB raised its stake in Bank of America by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 7,042,374 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $279,441,000 after purchasing an additional 50,849 shares in the last quarter. First Financial Bankshares Inc raised its stake in Bank of America by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. First Financial Bankshares Inc now owns 1,205,017 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,815,000 after purchasing an additional 8,734 shares in the last quarter. Cavalier Investments LLC raised its stake in Bank of America by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cavalier Investments LLC now owns 17,319 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $687,000 after purchasing an additional 1,035 shares in the last quarter. First American Bank raised its stake in Bank of America by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. First American Bank now owns 199,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,904,000 after purchasing an additional 2,366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Leuthold Group LLC raised its stake in Bank of America by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter. Leuthold Group LLC now owns 175,850 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,978,000 after purchasing an additional 24,804 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $44.48 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $33.53 and a 52-week high of $48.08. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $45.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.46. The stock has a market cap of $341.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.70 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.30%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BAC has been the subject of several analyst reports. HSBC upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.58.

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.