FineMark National Bank & Trust Boosts Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

FineMark National Bank & Trust raised its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 6.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 100,919 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,314 shares during the period. FineMark National Bank & Trust’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $4,435,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BAC. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in Bank of America by 4.6% during 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 purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $60,679,000. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 0.5% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.1% during 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 acquiring an additional 38,258 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in 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 valued at $1,886,769,000 after purchasing an additional 297,858 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on BAC. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Hsbc Global Res raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. HSBC raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” 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, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.45.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $43.09 on Tuesday. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $34.15 and a 52-week high of $48.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $327.57 billion, a PE ratio of 13.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $44.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.83. 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 (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.70 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.41%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.30%.

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.