GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. Takes Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

GUNN & Co INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT INC. purchased a new stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 15,309 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $515,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BAC. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 2.1% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,648,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,852,222,000 after buying an additional 1,397,469 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 97.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 41,290,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,130,538,000 after purchasing an additional 20,362,295 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 40,518,019 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,109,383,000 after buying an additional 746,756 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 28.3% in the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 21,288,404 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $582,877,000 after buying an additional 4,692,683 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 28.7% during the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 19,430,142 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $531,997,000 after purchasing an additional 4,335,882 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on BAC shares. Wolfe Research upgraded Bank of America from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 target price (up from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Bank of America from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.70.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $37.25 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. Bank of America Co. has a fifty-two week low of $24.96 and a fifty-two week high of $38.49. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.08. The company has a market capitalization of $291.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.37.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $25.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.49 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.94%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.22%.

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.