Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Shares Down 10.5% on Analyst Downgrade

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) shares traded down 10.5% during trading on Thursday after Truist Financial lowered their price target on the stock from $53.00 to $50.00. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Bank of America traded as low as $37.32 and last traded at $37.45. 49,494,520 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 33% from the average session volume of 37,266,774 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.85.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Baird R W raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. HSBC upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $49.50 to $43.50 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on Bank of America from $54.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.31.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of America

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA now owns 20,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $879,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the period. Avalon Trust Co raised its stake in Bank of America by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. Avalon Trust Co now owns 1,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 219 shares during the period. Prossimo Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Prossimo Advisors LLC now owns 8,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $390,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 13,204 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $580,000 after buying an additional 222 shares during the period. Finally, Keudell Morrison Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 8,291 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $364,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of America Trading Down 7.7 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $261.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.67, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.74 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.88.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.70 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.03%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 32.30%.

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.