WealthTrak Capital Management LLC Acquires New Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 7,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $346,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth $5,226,989,000. Amundi grew its position in Bank of America by 37.1% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 37,819,980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,747,658,000 after buying an additional 10,231,001 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its holdings in Bank of America by 31,021.6% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 10,207,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $405,049,000 after buying an additional 10,175,100 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 81.4% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 12,776,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $561,513,000 after acquiring an additional 5,733,810 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 130.9% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,692,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $425,976,000 after acquiring an additional 5,493,817 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on BAC shares. UBS Group raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup lowered 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 note on Monday, March 24th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.45.

Bank of America Price Performance

Bank of America stock opened at $41.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The company has a market cap of $313.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.81, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $34.15 and a 1 year high of $48.08. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $44.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.86.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.70 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.30%.

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.