Venturi Wealth Management LLC Raises Position in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC - Free Report) by 38.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 26,643 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,353 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Bank of America were worth $1,171,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA grew its holdings in Bank of America by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA now owns 20,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $879,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the period. Marino Stram & Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 13,204 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $580,000 after acquiring an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 8,291 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $364,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC now owns 8,685 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $382,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Consolidated Planning Corp lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp now owns 8,092 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $356,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on BAC shares. 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 report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group upgraded Bank of America from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. One investment 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $48.58.

Bank of America Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of BAC traded down $0.51 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $44.80. 43,472,525 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 35,078,777. The stock has a market cap of $343.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.33. The stock's 50-day moving average is $45.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.27. Bank of America Co. has a 12 month low of $33.37 and a 12 month high of $48.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $25.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.70 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.32%. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.30%.

Bank of America Company 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.