Mediolanum International Funds Ltd Boosts Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Mediolanum International Funds Ltd grew its position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 46.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,239,536 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 391,680 shares during the quarter. Bank of America makes up about 0.7% of Mediolanum International Funds Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $54,294,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,546,871,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700,141 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 4.0% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,215,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,794,164,000 after buying an additional 1,731,003 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its position in Bank of America by 2.8% during the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 22,341,213 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $886,499,000 after acquiring an additional 601,211 shares during the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Bank of America by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,042,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $676,264,000 after acquiring an additional 59,853 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Bank of America by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,415,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $611,692,000 after acquiring an additional 569,385 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BAC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. HSBC raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Citigroup raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.58.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Bank of America stock opened at $46.68 on Friday. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $32.35 and a 12-month high of $48.08. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.73. 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 market capitalization of $358.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.70 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.30%.

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.