Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Has $28.56 Million Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 37.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 649,775 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 177,293 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC's holdings in Bank of America were worth $28,558,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 3.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,415,630 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $611,692,000 after buying an additional 569,385 shares during the period. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 2.2% in the third quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 16,579 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $658,000 after acquiring an additional 356 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 43.7% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 12,436 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $547,000 after buying an additional 3,781 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 103,092 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,531,000 after acquiring an additional 8,805 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Modus Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth $178,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BAC. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group raised their price target on Bank of America from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Bank of America from $54.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Bank of America from $49.50 to $43.50 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Bank of America from a "moderate buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $47.25.

Bank of America Trading Up 2.3 %

Bank of America stock opened at $41.08 on Friday. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $33.07 and a 52 week high of $48.08. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $40.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.52. 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 company has a market capitalization of $312.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.27.

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

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Investors of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. 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.

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