Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Trading Down 3.5% on Analyst Downgrade

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) dropped 3.5% on Wednesday after Oppenheimer lowered their price target on the stock from $46.00 to $45.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Bank of America traded as low as $34.15 and last traded at $34.68. Approximately 95,566,094 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 171% from the average daily volume of 35,278,272 shares. The stock had previously closed at $35.95.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Erste Group Bank raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Citigroup lifted their target price on Bank of America from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Odeon Capital Group lowered Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.90 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on 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, Morgan Stanley raised Bank of America from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $32.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.53.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of America

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC now owns 55,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,515,000 after buying an additional 4,187 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 354.5% during the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 119,713 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,278,000 after buying an additional 93,375 shares during the last quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC now owns 65,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,793,000 after buying an additional 2,332 shares during the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 228.3% during the 4th quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 67,511 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,273,000 after buying an additional 46,950 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sarasin & Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at about $673,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Trading Up 1.5 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $282.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $35.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $32.24.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $25.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.94 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.16 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

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