Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Shares Down 0.2%

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)’s stock price traded down 0.2% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $36.81 and last traded at $36.86. 6,642,834 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 40,604,660 shares. The stock had previously closed at $36.95.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on BAC shares. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 target price (up previously from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Bank of America from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Bank of America from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.70.

Bank of America Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $291.31 billion, a PE ratio of 12.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $36.39 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.01.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.06. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The business had revenue of $25.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th will be paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.22%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of America

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at $3,734,407,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 104,030,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,502,720,000 after purchasing an additional 9,879,524 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Bank of America by 2.1% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,648,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,852,222,000 after purchasing an additional 1,397,469 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Bank of America by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 41,833,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,408,520,000 after purchasing an additional 1,315,056 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Bank of America by 97.3% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 41,290,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,130,538,000 after buying an additional 20,362,295 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

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.