Francis Financial Inc. Takes $397,000 Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Francis Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 9,038 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $397,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Graney & King LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Collier Financial purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 53.0% during the fourth quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 797 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on BAC shares. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Argus decreased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $47.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Bank of America from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Bank of America has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $47.25.

Bank of America Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE:BAC traded up $0.45 on Wednesday, hitting $44.73. 21,830,119 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 39,382,111. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $33.07 and a 52 week high of $48.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.51. The company has a market cap of $336.90 billion, a PE ratio of 13.89, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.27.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.10. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. The company had revenue of $27.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.83 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.33%. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio is currently 30.95%.

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.