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 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 days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.6 days. Approximately 0.8% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised Bank of America from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $32.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Bank of America from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Erste Group Bank raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Bank of America from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.53.

Institutional Trading of Bank of America

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 8.2% in the third quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC now owns 55,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,515,000 after acquiring an additional 4,187 shares in the last quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 3.7% during the third quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC now owns 65,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,793,000 after purchasing an additional 2,332 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 228.3% during the fourth quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 67,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,273,000 after purchasing an additional 46,950 shares during the period. Sarasin & Partners LLP bought a new position in Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at $673,000. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. grew its holdings in Bank of America by 30.0% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 978,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,799,000 after purchasing an additional 225,767 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.2 %

BAC stock opened at $37.90 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $36.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.80. Bank of America has a fifty-two week low of $24.96 and a fifty-two week high of $38.49. 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 company has a market cap of $299.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.39.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.49 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Bank of America will post 3.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 2.53%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.