Investors Purchase High Volume of Bank of America Call Options (NYSE:BAC)

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock investors bought 490,891 call options on the company. This is an increase of 168% compared to the typical volume of 183,071 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of America

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in Bank of America by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 3,940,121 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $173,168,000 after acquiring an additional 173,021 shares during the period. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth $60,679,000. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 2,028,439 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $89,150,000 after purchasing an additional 10,377 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 3,458,616 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $152,006,000 after purchasing an additional 38,258 shares during the period. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 7.8% in the first quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 696,416 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $29,061,000 after purchasing an additional 50,296 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BAC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Bank of America from $51.00 to $48.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on Bank of America from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Robert W. Baird raised Bank of America from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Citigroup cut their price target on Bank of America from $54.00 to $50.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Bank of America from $49.50 to $43.50 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.50.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BAC traded up $0.63 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $45.01. The company had a trading volume of 36,995,447 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,746,970. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market cap of $339.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.98, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.27. The company's 50-day moving average price is $40.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.50. Bank of America has a one year low of $33.07 and a one year high of $48.08.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $27.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $26.83 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.31%. Bank of America's payout ratio is 30.95%.

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.