Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Short Interest Update

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 81,480,000 shares, a growth of 12.7% from the May 31st total of 72,310,000 shares. Approximately 1.0% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 36,660,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on BAC shares. StockNews.com lowered Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, May 20th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, April 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Bank of America from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $37.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Friday, June 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Bank of America from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, HSBC reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $39.00 price objective (up previously from $38.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.79.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of America

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth $3,734,407,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Bank of America by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,437,936,000 after purchasing an additional 36,124,363 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 360.9% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 37,290,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,255,514,000 after purchasing an additional 29,198,846 shares during the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1,071.8% in the fourth quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 14,082,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $474,150,000 after purchasing an additional 12,880,492 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 104,030,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,502,720,000 after buying an additional 9,879,524 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC traded up $0.20 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $39.97. 18,180,418 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 38,800,750. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $312.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $38.91 and a 200 day moving average of $36.12. Bank of America has a 1 year low of $24.96 and a 1 year high of $40.34.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $25.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.49 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Bank of America will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a dividend of $0.24 per share. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.