Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Trading Up 1.5%

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) shot up 1.5% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $38.30 and last traded at $38.29. 10,051,375 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 41,378,871 shares. The stock had previously closed at $37.73.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BAC. Barclays lifted their price target on Bank of America from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Wolfe Research upgraded Bank of America from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $42.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Bank of America from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. 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 report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $40.00 price objective (up previously from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $38.53.

Bank of America Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $302.72 billion, a PE ratio of 13.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $35.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.57.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts' expectations of $25.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.94 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. Bank of America's dividend payout ratio is currently 33.22%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of America

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,734,407,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 104,030,844 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,502,720,000 after purchasing an additional 9,879,524 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,648,727 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,852,222,000 after purchasing an additional 1,397,469 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 41,833,075 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,408,520,000 after purchasing an additional 1,315,056 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 97.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 41,290,694 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,130,538,000 after purchasing an additional 20,362,295 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company's stock.

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.