Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Trading Down 0.7%

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) shares fell 0.7% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $39.46 and last traded at $39.50. 8,691,553 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 39,143,988 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.76.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BAC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Bank of America from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Bank of America from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. HSBC reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $39.00 target price (up from $38.00) on shares of Bank of America in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Bank of America from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.70.

Bank of America Stock Down 1.5 %

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.23. The company has a market cap of $306.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.37. 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 (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $25.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.94 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.22%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of America

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 402.2% during the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares during the last quarter. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America during the first quarter valued at about $33,000. Clearstead Trust LLC increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 1,489.3% during the first quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 890 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 834 shares during the period. Finally, Fortis Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the third quarter worth about $25,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.