Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Short Interest Down 8.1% in November

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 74,690,000 shares, a decline of 8.1% from the November 15th total of 81,280,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 35,600,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days. Approximately 1.0% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $45.05 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. Bank of America has a 1 year low of $31.27 and a 1 year high of $48.08. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.59. The firm has a market cap of $345.66 billion, a PE ratio of 16.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Bank of America will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.82%.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 1,722,523 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.40, for a total transaction of $67,867,406.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 794,120,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,288,363,972.20. This represents a 0.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders sold a total of 51,257,719 shares of company stock valued at $2,075,524,660 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Accent Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Bank of America by 43.0% during the third quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 39,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,567,000 after acquiring an additional 11,873 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 237.6% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 51,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,035,000 after purchasing an additional 36,089 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Bank of America by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,546,871,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700,141 shares during the period. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP grew its stake in Bank of America by 125.8% during the 3rd quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 61,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,421,000 after buying an additional 33,983 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. increased its position in Bank of America by 173.7% in the third quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 583,412 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $23,150,000 after buying an additional 370,275 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BAC. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley lowered Bank of America from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of America currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.92.

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.