SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC Grows Stake in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC)

SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 61.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 81,264 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 30,798 shares during the period. SeaBridge Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Bank of America were worth $3,391,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 142,289,199 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $6,243,000,000 after purchasing an additional 2,033,229 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 122,437,422 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $5,381,126,000 after acquiring an additional 11,691,451 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth approximately $5,226,989,000. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Bank of America by 23.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 88,210,527 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,876,853,000 after purchasing an additional 17,031,143 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,935,940 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,985,785,000 after purchasing an additional 9,980,859 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $53.00 target price on shares of Bank of America and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, June 30th. Cowen started coverage on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Phillip Securities upgraded Bank of America from a "moderate buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $49.55.

Bank of America Stock Up 2.4%

NYSE:BAC traded up $1.09 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $47.12. The company had a trading volume of 40,668,043 shares, compared to its average volume of 40,566,275. Bank of America Corporation has a 12-month low of $33.07 and a 12-month high of $49.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $354.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.01, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $45.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.60.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.03. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 14.56%. The business had revenue of ($22,273.00) million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $26.79 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.83 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th were given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 6th. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio is presently 30.95%.

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.