First Citizens Financial Corp Has $727,000 Stock Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

First Citizens Financial Corp grew its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 5.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 925 shares during the quarter. First Citizens Financial Corp’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $727,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Modus Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $178,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 103,092 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,531,000 after purchasing an additional 8,805 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 43.7% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 12,436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $547,000 after purchasing an additional 3,781 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co of the South boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Trust Co of the South now owns 11,813 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $519,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Copley Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Bank of America in the third quarter valued at $550,000. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $44.45. 8,327,830 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,665,453. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $31.27 and a twelve month high of $48.08. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $341.06 billion, a PE ratio of 16.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on 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 raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Bank of America from $57.00 to $54.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.82.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total transaction of $369,952,591.90. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 766,305,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. This represents a 1.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders have sold 16,772,932 shares of company stock worth $693,852,472 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

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.