Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. Makes New Investment in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 4,854 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $163,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fortis Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc grew its holdings in Bank of America by 98.1% in the third quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 1,018 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares during the period. ZRC Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Bank of America by 192.3% during the fourth quarter. ZRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Ocean LLC raised its stake in Bank of America by 34.0% during the fourth quarter. Private Ocean LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Bank of America from $39.50 to $40.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Odeon Capital Group downgraded Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.90 price objective on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. HSBC reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $39.00 target price (up previously from $38.00) on shares of Bank of America in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Bank of America from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $32.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.70.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE:BAC traded down $0.14 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $37.70. 32,799,608 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 40,510,223. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $24.96 and a 52 week high of $38.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $294.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.37. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.31.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.21 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, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.55%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio 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.