Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Purchases 14,623 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 191.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 22,254 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 14,623 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $977,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 3,940,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $173,168,000 after buying an additional 173,021 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth approximately $60,679,000. Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in Bank of America by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 2,028,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $89,150,000 after purchasing an additional 10,377 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 3,458,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $152,006,000 after purchasing an additional 38,258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 42,929,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,886,769,000 after purchasing an additional 297,858 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $43.09 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $44.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.83. The firm has a market cap of $327.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. Bank of America Co. has a 12 month low of $34.15 and a 12 month high of $48.08.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 EPS 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 business had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.70 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

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 2.41%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.30%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BAC has been the topic of several recent research reports. Baird R W upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased 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 note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.45.

Bank of America 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.