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

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) was the target of a large 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 trading volume of 33,560,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days. Currently, 1.0% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of America

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in Bank of America by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 2,028,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,150,000 after purchasing an additional 10,377 shares in the last quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Bank of America by 43.0% during the 3rd quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC now owns 39,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,567,000 after purchasing an additional 11,873 shares in the last quarter. Summit Global Investments increased its holdings in Bank of America by 237.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,700,141 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keybank National Association OH grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 3,458,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $152,006,000 after acquiring an additional 38,258 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $42.27 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $321.46 billion, a PE ratio of 13.13, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America has a 12 month low of $34.15 and a 12 month high of $48.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.69.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm’s revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.70 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Bank of America will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.30%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on BAC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Bank of America from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays increased their price objective on Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.58.

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.