Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. Buys New Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. purchased a new position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 7,383 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $324,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BAC. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,546,871,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700,141 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 4.0% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,215,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,794,164,000 after buying an additional 1,731,003 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 22,341,213 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $886,499,000 after acquiring an additional 601,211 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Bank of America by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,042,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $676,264,000 after acquiring an additional 59,853 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in Bank of America by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 15,857,556 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $696,940,000 after acquiring an additional 285,117 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of America Stock Performance

BAC opened at $47.43 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $363.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.73, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.33. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $32.35 and a 52-week high of $48.08.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.12 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.70 EPS. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate 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. Investors 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 2.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 32.30%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BAC. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.58.

Bank of America Company Profile

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.