Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Trading Down 0.5% Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) fell 0.5% on Tuesday after Evercore ISI lowered their price target on the stock from $51.00 to $48.00. Evercore ISI currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Bank of America traded as low as $40.97 and last traded at $41.53. 6,580,183 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 38,216,488 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.73.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on BAC. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Bank of America from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays lifted their price target on Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.31.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 15,415,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $611,692,000 after acquiring an additional 569,385 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its position in Bank of America by 221.3% during the third quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 20,734 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $823,000 after buying an additional 14,281 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 36.5% during the third quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC now owns 26,946 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,069,000 after acquiring an additional 7,211 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 3,007.7% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 108,148 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,291,000 after purchasing an additional 104,668 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 20,863 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $828,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Price Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $44.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.95. The company has a market cap of $315.74 billion, a PE ratio of 12.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.70 EPS. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 32.30%.

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.