Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Shares Down 2.7% – Here’s What Happened

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) shares traded down 2.7% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $57.18 and last traded at $57.89. 49,067,230 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 32% from the average daily volume of 37,151,699 shares. The stock had previously closed at $59.52.

Key Headlines Impacting Bank of America

Here are the key news stories impacting Bank of America this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Goldman Sachs issued a Buy rating on BAC, reinforcing the view that the recent decline may have created an attractive entry point. The stock trades at roughly 13 times earnings and remains above its 200-day moving average. Bank of America receives a Buy from Goldman Sachs
• Positive Sentiment: The Federal Reserve’s rate increase could support net interest income by allowing banks to earn more on loans, although the benefit may be partly offset by higher deposit costs and competition for funding. Fed rate hike implications for banks
• Positive Sentiment: CashPro adoption is expanding in Europe: companies approved more than €100 billion in payments through Bank of America’s mobile treasury platform during the first seven months of the year, supporting the bank’s commercial-banking and fee-based strategy. European companies shift treasury to mobile with CashPro
• Neutral Sentiment: Bank of America’s CFO said business fundamentals remain healthy, while analysts noted strong loan growth and net interest income. Those positives have not yet fully addressed investor concerns about slowing fee revenue. Bank of America CFO discusses stock decline
• Negative Sentiment: Management warned that third-quarter investment-banking revenue could fall 10%–20%. The warning outweighed a healthy deal pipeline and triggered the steepest single-day decline in more than a year, making fee trends the key issue for BAC investors. Bank of America falls as fee guidance drops
• Negative Sentiment: The Fed’s higher-rate environment may pressure deposit margins as customers demand better yields, limiting how much of the potential net-interest-income benefit reaches earnings.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Bank of America from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Bank of America in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore set a $63.00 target price on shares of Bank of America and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Twenty-one equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.08.

Bank of America Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $406.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.83. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $55.79.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.08. Bank of America had a return on equity of 12.20% and a net margin of 17.56%.The company had revenue of $31.56 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.78 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.89 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 19.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Corporation will post 4.67 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 4th will be paid a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 29.36%.

Institutional Trading of Bank of America

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Total Clarity Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Bank of America by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Total Clarity Wealth Management Inc. now owns 4,889 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $279,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Orca Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. Orca Wealth Management LLC now owns 35,087 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,999,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. now owns 4,741 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $270,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. lifted its stake in Bank of America by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. now owns 16,456 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $938,000 after buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Operose Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 20,409 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,123,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Company Profile

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) is a diversified financial services company serving individual consumers, businesses, institutional investors and governments. Its operations include consumer banking, credit and debit cards, mortgages, small-business banking, commercial banking, investment banking, securities trading and investment management.

The company provides consumer and wealth-management services through Bank of America and Merrill, including deposit accounts, lending, brokerage, retirement planning, financial advice and private banking.