Bank of America Co. (BAC) To Go Ex-Dividend on March 7th

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 29th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.26 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th.

Bank of America has raised its dividend payment by an average of 8.6% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 11 years. Bank of America has a dividend payout ratio of 23.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Bank of America to earn $4.36 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.04 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 23.9%.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC stock opened at $42.55 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $323.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.22, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $45.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.70. Bank of America has a 52-week low of $34.15 and a 52-week high of $48.08.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. The company’s revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.70 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.58.

Institutional Trading of Bank of America

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Bank of America stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) by 30.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 108,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,143 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Bank of America were worth $4,785,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

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.