Short Interest in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Expands By 6.3%

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 72,080,000 shares, an increase of 6.3% from the March 15th total of 67,790,000 shares. Currently, 0.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 40,330,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.8 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on BAC shares. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Bank of America from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (up previously from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a report on Thursday, April 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.23.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of America

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Bank of America by 108,111.3% in 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 during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,734,407,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its position in Bank of America by 360.9% in 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 buying an additional 29,198,846 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Bank of America by 97.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 41,290,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,130,538,000 after buying an additional 20,362,295 shares during the period. Finally, Snider Financial Group boosted 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 buying an additional 14,297,496 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE:BAC opened at $35.22 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $277.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.47, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $35.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.21. Bank of America has a fifty-two week low of $24.96 and a fifty-two week high of $38.35.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $25.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.49 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 15.42% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.73%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 31.27%.

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.