Junto Capital Management LP Acquires New Stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Junto Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,867,282 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $169,967,000. Bank of America comprises approximately 3.3% of Junto Capital Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kahn Brothers Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Kahn Brothers Group Inc. now owns 19,430 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $854,000 after purchasing an additional 854 shares during the period. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Guardian Wealth Advisors LLC NC now owns 43,809 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,925,000 after acquiring an additional 1,396 shares during the period. Francis Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth approximately $397,000. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc grew its holdings in Bank of America by 23.1% in the fourth quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 8,620,023 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $378,850,000 after purchasing an additional 1,616,091 shares during the period. Finally, Ethic Inc. increased its position in Bank of America by 121.1% during the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 148,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,543,000 after purchasing an additional 81,541 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BAC has been the subject of several research reports. Baird R W raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Argus lowered their price target on Bank of America from $53.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Phillip Securities upgraded Bank of America from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.25.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $41.85 on Friday. Bank of America Co. has a 12-month low of $33.07 and a 12-month high of $48.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market cap of $315.21 billion, a PE ratio of 13.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.49.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $27.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.83 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.49%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 30.95%.

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.