Short Interest in Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Decreases By 8.1%

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 74,690,000 shares, a drop of 8.1% from the November 15th total of 81,280,000 shares. Currently, 1.0% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 35,600,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Bank of America Stock Performance

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

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

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.82%.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total transaction of $465,811,996.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 835,908,435 shares in the company, valued at $34,088,345,979.30. The trade was a 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 51,257,719 shares of company stock valued at $2,075,524,660 over the last 90 days. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC increased its position in Bank of America by 0.6% during the third quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 37,393 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,484,000 after buying an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in Bank of America by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 20,863 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $828,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. McAdam LLC raised its stake in Bank of America by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 11,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $455,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Integrity Financial Corp WA boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Integrity Financial Corp WA now owns 14,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $590,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SNS Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.3% during the second quarter. SNS Financial Group LLC now owns 7,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $310,000 after buying an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on BAC shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Bank of America from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $48.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Citigroup raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.92.

Bank of America Company Profile

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.