ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 59,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 803 shares during the quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,994,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BAC. Roundview Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.5% in the first quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 135,764 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,596,000 after buying an additional 2,013 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 150.3% in the first quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,985 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 1,192 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 4.2% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 405,098 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,698,000 after purchasing an additional 16,319 shares during the last quarter. First Western Trust Bank bought a new position in shares of Bank of America in the first quarter worth approximately $586,000. Finally, Pearl River Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of America in the first quarter worth approximately $534,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Odeon Capital Group cut shares of Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.90 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (up from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.53.

Bank of America Trading Up 3.4 %

Shares of Bank of America stock traded up $1.20 on Friday, hitting $36.97. The stock had a trading volume of 56,242,939 shares, compared to its average volume of 41,782,625. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. Bank of America Co. has a one year low of $24.96 and a one year high of $38.35. The stock has a market cap of $291.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.79, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.39. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $32.31.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.06. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The firm had revenue of $25.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.16 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is 33.22%.

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.