GAMMA Investing LLC Acquires 8,592 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 16.0% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 62,359 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,592 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $2,365,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,734,407,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 360.9% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 37,290,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,255,514,000 after buying an additional 29,198,846 shares in the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd grew its holdings in Bank of America by 1,071.8% during the 4th quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 14,082,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $474,150,000 after purchasing an additional 12,880,492 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Bank of America by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 104,030,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,502,720,000 after purchasing an additional 9,879,524 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Darsana Capital Partners LP bought a new position in Bank of America during the 3rd quarter valued at about $177,970,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Bank of America stock traded up $0.48 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $39.99. 30,804,467 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 33,991,304. The stock has a market cap of $312.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.36. 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 52-week low of $24.96 and a 52-week high of $40.19. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $38.32 and its 200 day moving average is $35.63.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $25.49 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 10.88%. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. Analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.40%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.22%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $39.50 to $40.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 1st. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of 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 note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, May 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.79.

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.