Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Boosts Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 107,056 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,571 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $3,605,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Syon Capital LLC boosted its position in Bank of America by 125.4% in the 4th quarter. Syon Capital LLC now owns 98,789 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,326,000 after buying an additional 54,964 shares during the period. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA boosted its position in Bank of America by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 620,281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,885,000 after buying an additional 5,972 shares during the period. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. boosted its position in Bank of America by 208.4% in the 4th quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. now owns 4,811 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $162,000 after buying an additional 3,251 shares during the period. Channing Global Advisors LLC boosted its position in Bank of America by 43.0% in the 4th quarter. Channing Global Advisors LLC now owns 41,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,397,000 after buying an additional 12,479 shares during the period. Finally, Lyell Wealth Management LP boosted its position in Bank of America by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP now owns 107,621 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,624,000 after buying an additional 4,607 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Bank of America from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price target (up from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Bank of America presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.53.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE BAC opened at $37.82 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $298.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.39. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $24.96 and a 52-week high of $38.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $36.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $25.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.49 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.19 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.54%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.