Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Trading Down 1.3%

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) shares traded down 1.3% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $36.05 and last traded at $36.16. 8,946,381 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 39,871,875 shares. The stock had previously closed at $36.65.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Odeon Capital Group lowered shares of Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.90 target price on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Bank of America from $37.00 to $36.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.29.

Bank of America Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The business’s 50-day moving average is $35.42 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.01. The company has a market capitalization of $282.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.39.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 12th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.01. Bank of America had a net margin of 15.42% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The business had revenue of $22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.27%.

Institutional Trading of Bank of America

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Shorepath Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 10.2% in the first quarter. Shorepath Capital Management LLC now owns 305,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,587,000 after purchasing an additional 28,354 shares in the last quarter. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the first quarter worth about $244,000. Inspirion Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 3.5% in the first quarter. Inspirion Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 20,178 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $765,000 after purchasing an additional 690 shares in the last quarter. Quad Cities Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the first quarter worth about $203,000. Finally, Retirement Planning Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the first quarter worth about $225,000. 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.