Norges Bank Acquires New Position in Bank of America Corporation $BAC

Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 107,600,185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,091,641,000. Bank of America comprises approximately 0.6% of Norges Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Bank of America by 0.3% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 148,176,755 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,982,863,000 after purchasing an additional 403,652 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 45.1% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 48,112,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,007,718,000 after buying an additional 14,960,086 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 39,233,293 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,637,205,000 after acquiring an additional 1,413,313 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 31,956,699 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,333,351,000 after acquiring an additional 188,638 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in Bank of America by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 16,562,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $783,759,000 after acquiring an additional 894,027 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on BAC shares. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Ameriprise Financial upgraded Bank of America to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on Bank of America from $57.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Bank of America from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Twenty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.77.

Bank of America Trading Up 1.0%

NYSE:BAC opened at $53.01 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $387.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.44, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Bank of America Corporation has a one year low of $33.06 and a one year high of $54.69. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.69.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.13. Bank of America had a net margin of 15.70% and a return on equity of 10.76%. The business had revenue of $5.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.05 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.81 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is 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 presently 30.52%.

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.