CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Purchases 130,277 Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its stake in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 2.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,972,314 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 130,277 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned approximately 0.08% of Bank of America worth $262,469,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 142,289,199 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $6,243,000,000 after acquiring an additional 2,033,229 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at $5,226,989,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 59,613,837 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,620,028,000 after buying an additional 2,806,927 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 46,887,442 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,060,703,000 after purchasing an additional 1,671,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 0.7% during the fourth 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on BAC. Barclays lowered their price target on Bank of America from $58.00 to $54.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Bank of America from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Baird R W raised Bank of America from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Bank of America from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.20.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.3 %

Bank of America stock traded up $0.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $37.44. 47,052,978 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 39,127,145. Bank of America Co. has a 1-year low of $33.07 and a 1-year high of $48.08. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $41.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.59. The stock has a market cap of $284.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $27.37 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.83 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.