Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Increases Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 241,735 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 11,704 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $10,624,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Collier Financial purchased a new position in Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc raised its position in Bank of America by 3,883.2% during the 4th quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc now owns 559,995 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 545,936 shares during the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 152.7% in the 4th quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on BAC shares. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI decreased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.64.

Bank of America Trading Down 3.9 %

NYSE BAC opened at $39.79 on Tuesday. Bank of America Co. has a one year low of $34.15 and a one year high of $48.08. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $45.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $302.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.36, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.70 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.61%. 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.