Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Short Interest Down 10.1% in April

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 64,800,000 shares, a drop 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 short-interest ratio is presently 1.6 days. Currently, 0.8% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BAC. Barclays lifted their target price on Bank of America from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Bank of America from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Wolfe Research upgraded Bank of America from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Bank of America from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Bank of America has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.59.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of America

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,734,407,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in 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 boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,648,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,852,222,000 after purchasing an additional 1,397,469 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 41,833,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,408,520,000 after purchasing an additional 1,315,056 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 97.3% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Down 1.5 %

BAC opened at $37.01 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. Bank of America has a one year low of $24.96 and a one year high of $38.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $291.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.39.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $25.82 billion for 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 business’s revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Bank of America will post 3.19 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business 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 $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.22%.

Bank of America Company 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.