Slagle Financial LLC Grows Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Slagle Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 1.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 68,173 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 757 shares during the quarter. Bank of America makes up about 1.3% of Slagle Financial LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Slagle Financial LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $2,996,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 3.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 569,385 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 3rd quarter valued at about $606,000. Freedom Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Bank of America by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter. Freedom Investment Management Inc. now owns 30,917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,227,000 after purchasing an additional 3,910 shares during the period. Bridgewater Associates LP purchased a new position in Bank of America during the third quarter worth approximately $13,162,000. Finally, Blueshift Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Bank of America in the third quarter valued at approximately $427,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on BAC shares. Baird R W raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays boosted their price target on Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $43.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, sixteen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bank of America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.45.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.5 %

Bank of America stock opened at $42.61 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $323.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $34.15 and a twelve month high of $48.08. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $44.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.85.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.70 EPS. Bank of America’s revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Bank of America Co. 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 will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.30%.

About Bank of America

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.