Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 64,800,000 shares, a decrease of 10.1% from the March 31st total of 72,080,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 40,640,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.6 days. Currently, 0.8% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of America

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth about $3,734,407,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its stake in Bank of America by 360.9% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 37,290,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,255,514,000 after acquiring an additional 29,198,846 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 97.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 20,362,295 shares during the period. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd increased its stake in Bank of America by 1,071.8% in the fourth quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 14,082,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $474,150,000 after purchasing an additional 12,880,492 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Bank of America by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 104,030,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,502,720,000 after purchasing an additional 9,879,524 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BAC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Odeon Capital Group lowered Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.90 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Bank of America from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.59.

Bank of America Trading Down 1.5 %

BAC stock opened at $37.01 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. Bank of America has a twelve month low of $24.96 and a twelve month high of $38.49. The company has a market cap of $291.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.80, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.39. The business has a fifty day moving average of $36.26 and a 200-day moving average of $32.95.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $25.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.49 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.94%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.94 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Bank of America will post 3.19 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.22%.

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.