Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Short Interest Update

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 79,270,000 shares, a growth of 37.3% from the January 31st total of 57,750,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 33,560,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days. Currently, 1.0% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $45.51 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $346.09 billion, a PE ratio of 14.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Bank of America has a one year low of $34.15 and a one year high of $48.08. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $45.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.67.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.70 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Bank of America will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.29%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is 32.30%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of America

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth $319,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at about $128,000. Menard Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 20,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $906,000 after buying an additional 240 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth about $217,979,000. Finally, Brooklyn FI LLC bought a new position in Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,081,000. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BAC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. HSBC raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $43.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.58.

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.