First Western Trust Bank Takes Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

First Western Trust Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,724 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 3,940,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $173,168,000 after purchasing an additional 173,021 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at $60,679,000. Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in Bank of America by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 2,028,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,150,000 after buying an additional 10,377 shares during the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 3,458,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $152,006,000 after buying an additional 38,258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Bank of America by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 42,929,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,886,769,000 after acquiring an additional 297,858 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Trading Down 11.1 %

BAC stock opened at $37.21 on Friday. Bank of America Co. has a one year low of $34.15 and a one year high of $48.08. The company has a market capitalization of $282.89 billion, a PE ratio of 11.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $43.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.70 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.80%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 32.30%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $49.50 to $43.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays raised their price target on Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Friday, March 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.45.

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.