Sherman Asset Management Inc. Buys New Shares in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Sherman Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 2,569 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $113,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Accent Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Bank of America by 43.0% during the third quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 39,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,567,000 after purchasing an additional 11,873 shares in the last quarter. Summit Global Investments raised its holdings in Bank of America by 237.6% during the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 51,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,035,000 after acquiring an additional 36,089 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 1.2% during the third 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 acquiring an additional 1,700,141 shares during the period. Clarendon Private LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at about $798,000. Finally, Baker Avenue Asset Management LP raised its holdings in Bank of America by 125.8% during the third quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 61,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,421,000 after acquiring an additional 33,983 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Trading Up 4.7 %

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $46.19 on Friday. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $34.03 and a 1-year high of $48.08. The business’s 50 day moving average is $45.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $354.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.34, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.30%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on BAC shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.