Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Issues Earnings Results

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.06, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $25.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.49 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 15.42% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The company’s revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS.

Bank of America Stock Performance

BAC stock traded up $0.55 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $35.23. The company had a trading volume of 64,457,909 shares, compared to its average volume of 41,372,754. Bank of America Co. has a twelve month low of $24.96 and a twelve month high of $38.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $277.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.39. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.19.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is 31.27%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 108,111.3% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 193,168,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,397,725,000 after buying an additional 192,989,515 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth about $3,436,543,000. Snider Financial Group grew its position in Bank of America by 9,477.3% in the 1st quarter. Snider Financial Group now owns 14,448,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,956,000 after acquiring an additional 14,297,496 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in Bank of America by 3,474.6% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 11,658,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $480,579,000 after acquiring an additional 11,332,721 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in Bank of America by 24.3% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,183,411 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,925,365,000 after acquiring an additional 11,187,352 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BAC. HSBC reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $39.00 price target (up previously from $38.00) on shares of Bank of America in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of Bank of America from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Bank of America from $37.00 to $36.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.23.

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.