Baron Wealth Management LLC Invests $596,000 in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Baron Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 13,558 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $596,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in BAC. Accent Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 43.0% in the 3rd quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 39,500 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,567,000 after purchasing an additional 11,873 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments raised its position in Bank of America by 237.6% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 51,278 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,035,000 after buying an additional 36,089 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Bank of America by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $5,546,871,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700,141 shares in the last quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP boosted its position in Bank of America by 125.8% during the 3rd quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 61,002 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,421,000 after acquiring an additional 33,983 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clarendon Private LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth approximately $798,000. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BAC. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. UBS Group raised Bank of America from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $48.58.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE:BAC traded down $0.07 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $46.68. The company had a trading volume of 31,023,495 shares, compared to its average volume of 37,306,895. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $45.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.73. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $32.35 and a twelve month high of $48.08. The firm has a market cap of $358.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.70 earnings per share. Bank of America's revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.30%.

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.