Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. Takes Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. acquired a new stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 6,017 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $264,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Swedbank AB grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 0.7% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 7,042,374 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $279,441,000 after acquiring an additional 50,849 shares in the last quarter. First Financial Bankshares Inc grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 0.7% in the third quarter. First Financial Bankshares Inc now owns 1,205,017 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,815,000 after acquiring an additional 8,734 shares in the last quarter. Cavalier Investments LLC grew its stake in Bank of America by 6.4% during the third quarter. Cavalier Investments LLC now owns 17,319 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $687,000 after buying an additional 1,035 shares in the last quarter. First American Bank grew its stake in Bank of America by 1.2% during the third quarter. First American Bank now owns 199,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,904,000 after buying an additional 2,366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Leuthold Group LLC grew its stake in Bank of America by 16.4% during the third quarter. Leuthold Group LLC now owns 175,850 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,978,000 after buying an additional 24,804 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BAC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. HSBC raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $43.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.58.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $44.48 on Tuesday. Bank of America Co. has a 52-week low of $33.53 and a 52-week high of $48.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $45.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.46. The company has a market capitalization of $341.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.70 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.34%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 32.30%.

Bank of America Company 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.