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

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) dropped 3.5% during trading 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 traded 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.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on BAC. Odeon Capital Group downgraded Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.90 target price for the company. in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Bank of America from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 target price (up from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Erste Group Bank raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Bank of America from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.53.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rossmore Private Capital increased its position in Bank of America by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Rossmore Private Capital now owns 26,537 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $894,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC now owns 39,526 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,309,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Chemistry Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Chemistry Wealth Management LLC now owns 109,541 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,154,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the last quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,976 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $336,000 after acquiring an additional 314 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kennedy Investment Group increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 58,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,953,000 after acquiring an additional 321 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of America Stock Performance

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 firm has a market cap 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 stock 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $25.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.49 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.94%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.16 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is 33.22%.

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.