Sapient Capital LLC Invests $34.86 Million in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Sapient Capital LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,035,291 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $34,858,000. Bank of America makes up about 0.9% of Sapient Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,648,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,852,222,000 after purchasing an additional 1,397,469 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $1,130,538,000 after purchasing an additional 20,362,295 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 746,756 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 37,649,708 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,267,666,000 after buying an additional 5,484,219 shares during the period. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 22,538,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $758,871,000 after buying an additional 1,250,096 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Trading Up 1.0 %

BAC traded up $0.37 during trading on Friday, hitting $37.25. 34,082,662 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 41,339,492. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $36.46 and a 200 day moving average of $33.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $291.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.37. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $24.96 and a 12-month high of $38.49.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $25.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.49 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.94%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.94 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.21 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 33.22%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on BAC shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Odeon Capital Group cut shares of Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.90 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Wolfe Research upgraded Bank of America from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Bank of America from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.70.

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.