Cooke & Bieler LP Acquires 297,253 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Cooke & Bieler LP grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 22.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,643,794 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 297,253 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $55,347,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BAC. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 108,111.3% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 193,168,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,397,725,000 after acquiring an additional 192,989,515 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at $3,436,543,000. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 97.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 41,290,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,130,538,000 after acquiring an additional 20,362,295 shares during the period. Snider Financial Group grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 9,477.3% during the 1st quarter. Snider Financial Group now owns 14,448,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,956,000 after acquiring an additional 14,297,496 shares during the period. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 1,071.8% in the 4th quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 14,082,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $474,150,000 after buying an additional 12,880,492 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Up 3.4 %

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $36.97 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $35.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $291.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.39. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $24.96 and a 12-month high of $38.35.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $25.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.49 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The business’s revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.94 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is 33.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BAC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Odeon Capital Group downgraded shares of Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.90 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.53.

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.