Natixis Advisors L.P. Raises Stock Holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 8.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,986,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 314,634 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P.’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $134,212,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Bank of America by 8.2% in the third quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC now owns 55,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,515,000 after purchasing an additional 4,187 shares during the last quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 234.5% during the fourth quarter. Auxano Advisors LLC now owns 27,356 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $921,000 after purchasing an additional 19,179 shares in the last quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC now owns 65,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,793,000 after buying an additional 2,332 shares in the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 228.3% during the fourth quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 67,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,273,000 after acquiring an additional 46,950 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $105,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on BAC shares. HSBC restated a “hold” rating and issued a $39.00 price objective (up previously from $38.00) on shares of Bank of America in a report on Thursday, March 28th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of 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. Morgan Stanley upgraded Bank of America from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $32.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price target (up previously from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Bank of America from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.70.

Bank of America Price Performance

Bank of America stock traded down $0.07 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $36.88. 16,129,111 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 40,725,461. The company has a market capitalization of $291.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.98. Bank of America Co. has a 1 year low of $24.96 and a 1 year high of $38.49.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.06. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The business had revenue of $25.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.94 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.19 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued 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 is Friday, June 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.