Hardman Johnston Global Advisors LLC Buys New Shares in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Hardman Johnston Global Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 187,990 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,262,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA now owns 20,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $879,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the period. Prossimo Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Prossimo Advisors LLC now owns 8,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $390,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. Marino Stram & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 13,204 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $580,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the period. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 8,291 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $364,000 after buying an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Traveka Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC now owns 8,685 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $382,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Hsbc Global Res raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. HSBC raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays lifted their price target on Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Bank of America from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, UBS Group raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $43.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.58.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC stock opened at $44.80 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $343.71 billion, a PE ratio of 13.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $33.37 and a 52-week high of $48.08. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $45.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.70 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.69 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.