Commerce Bank Raises Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Commerce Bank raised its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 21.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,303,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 231,603 shares during the period. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $43,884,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,734,407,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 2.1% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,648,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,852,222,000 after purchasing an additional 1,397,469 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 41,833,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,408,520,000 after purchasing an additional 1,315,056 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 97.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 41,290,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,130,538,000 after purchasing an additional 20,362,295 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 37,649,708 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,267,666,000 after purchasing an additional 5,484,219 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BAC has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $39.50 to $40.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. HSBC restated a “hold” rating and set a $39.00 target price (up previously from $38.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.70.

Bank of America Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of BAC stock traded down $0.72 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $39.04. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 27,466,011 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,325,148. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.23. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $24.96 and a 12-month high of $39.84. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $305.31 billion, a PE ratio of 13.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.37.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $25.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

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 paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.