Simmons Bank Acquires 7,537 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Simmons Bank increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 234,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,537 shares during the quarter. Simmons Bank’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $7,905,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC now owns 80,163 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,699,000 after purchasing an additional 1,770 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 41,833,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,408,520,000 after buying an additional 1,315,056 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 29.2% during the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 59,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,997,000 after buying an additional 13,408 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $274,000. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Bank of America by 45.1% in the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 134,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,518,000 after acquiring an additional 41,728 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. HSBC reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $39.00 price target (up from $38.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price objective (up from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Bank of America from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Bank of America from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.70.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Bank of America stock traded down $0.13 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $37.71. 17,527,820 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 40,320,184. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $24.96 and a 52 week high of $38.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market cap of $294.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.37. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.31.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.06. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.94%. The company had revenue of $25.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.