Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Increases Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 29.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 59,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,408 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,997,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $274,000. Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 45.1% in the fourth quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 134,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,518,000 after purchasing an additional 41,728 shares in the last quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at $203,000. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC now owns 51,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,746,000 after purchasing an additional 4,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 338,292 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,390,000 after purchasing an additional 39,485 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $39.50 to $40.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. HSBC reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $39.00 target price (up from $38.00) on shares of Bank of America in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Bank of America from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Bank of America from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.70.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:BAC traded up $0.16 on Tuesday, hitting $37.85. 29,110,563 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 40,598,000. Bank of America Co. has a 12 month low of $24.96 and a 12 month high of $38.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $295.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.37. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $25.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.49 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.94%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.22%.

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.