Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Short Interest Up 37.3% in February

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 79,270,000 shares, an increase of 37.3% from the January 31st total of 57,750,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 33,560,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days. Currently, 1.0% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of America

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth $5,226,989,000. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 23.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 88,210,527 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,876,853,000 after purchasing an additional 17,031,143 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 122,437,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,381,126,000 after purchasing an additional 11,691,451 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 37.1% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 37,819,980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,747,658,000 after purchasing an additional 10,231,001 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 31,021.6% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 10,207,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $405,049,000 after purchasing an additional 10,175,100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BAC. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, HSBC raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.58.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of Bank of America stock traded down $0.40 on Wednesday, hitting $42.27. 52,238,648 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 35,785,895. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $45.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $321.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America has a 1-year low of $34.15 and a 1-year 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during 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 for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.70 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Bank of America will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.46%. 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.