Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Shares Up 0.9%

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)’s stock price rose 0.9% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $37.53 and last traded at $37.20. Approximately 14,036,010 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 65% from the average daily volume of 40,628,469 shares. The stock had previously closed at $36.88.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BAC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Bank of America from $39.50 to $40.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Bank of America from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Wolfe Research raised Bank of America from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price objective (up from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. 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 presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.70.

Bank of America Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $291.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $36.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.08.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.06. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.94%. The business had revenue of $25.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast 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 given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.58%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.22%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of America

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fortis Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc boosted its stake in Bank of America by 98.1% in the 3rd quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 1,018 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares in the last quarter. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America in the first quarter worth about $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.