Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Shares Down 3.5% on Analyst Downgrade

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)’s stock price dropped 3.5% on Wednesday after Oppenheimer lowered their price target on the stock from $46.00 to $45.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Bank of America traded as low as $34.15 and last traded at $34.68. Approximately 95,566,094 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 171% from the average daily volume of 35,278,272 shares. The stock had previously closed at $35.95.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Odeon Capital Group cut shares of Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.90 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. HSBC reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $39.00 target price (up previously from $38.00) on shares of Bank of America in a report on Thursday, March 28th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 target price (up previously from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.53.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of America

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America in the first quarter valued at about $33,000. Fortis Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The company has a market cap of $282.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.38, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.39.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $25.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.49 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 33.22%.

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.