Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 14,844 Shares of Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 103,649 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,844 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $5,495,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Tradewinds LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,451,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Bank of America by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $884,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Whelan Financial grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 39.0% during the 3rd quarter. Whelan Financial now owns 21,399 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,104,000 after acquiring an additional 6,005 shares during the period. Courier Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. Courier Capital LLC now owns 186,980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,646,000 after acquiring an additional 18,377 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allstate Corp raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 2,645.8% in the 3rd quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 259,776 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,402,000 after acquiring an additional 250,315 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.8%

NYSE:BAC opened at $53.02 on Tuesday. Bank of America Corporation has a 52 week low of $33.06 and a 52 week high of $57.55. The stock has a market cap of $387.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.84 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $54.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 14th. The financial services provider reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.02. Bank of America had a return on equity of 11.07% and a net margin of 16.23%.The business had revenue of $28.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.73 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.82 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th were given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 5th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 29.24%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. CICC Research started coverage on Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. Phillip Securities upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Bank of America from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Bank of America to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-four have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.74.

Bank of America Profile

Bank of America Corporation is a multinational financial services company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It provides a broad array of banking, investment, asset management and related financial and risk management products and services to individual consumers, small- and middle-market businesses, large corporations, governments and institutional investors. The firm operates through consumer banking, global wealth and investment management, global banking and markets businesses, offering capabilities across lending, deposits, payments, advisory and capital markets.

Its consumer-facing offerings include checking and savings accounts, mortgages, home equity lending, auto loans, credit cards and small business banking, supported by a nationwide branch network and digital channels.