Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Short Interest Up 6.8% in July

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 72,010,000 shares, a growth of 6.8% from the June 30th total of 67,400,000 shares. Approximately 0.9% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 35,360,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total transaction of $559,278,840.51. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,020,161,313 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,958,509,063.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders have sold 49,545,245 shares of company stock worth $2,119,252,649. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 402.2% in the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 547 shares during the period. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its holdings in Bank of America by 839.0% during the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares in the last quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of America during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America during the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BAC has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Bank of America from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Erste Group Bank raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.07.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of Bank of America stock traded down $0.82 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $39.49. The company had a trading volume of 60,098,577 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,172,520. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.42. Bank of America has a 1-year low of $24.96 and a 1-year high of $44.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a market capitalization of $308.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.35.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.22 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.63%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.22%.

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.