Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.26

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 16th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.26 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.43%.

Bank of America has increased its dividend by an average of 8.5% 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 28.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Bank of America to earn $3.59 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 29.0%.

Bank of America Stock Up 1.6 %

NYSE:BAC traded up $0.66 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $42.80. 42,194,895 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 38,940,754. The firm has a market cap of $334.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.84, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $39.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Bank of America has a fifty-two week low of $24.96 and a fifty-two week high of $44.44.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on BAC. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. StockNews.com cut shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Cfra restated a “sell” rating and set a $39.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.62.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 6,349,021 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.41, for a total transaction of $269,261,980.61. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 992,612,058 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,096,677,379.78. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 6,349,021 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.41, for a total transaction of $269,261,980.61. Following the sale, the insider now owns 992,612,058 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,096,677,379.78. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,230,389 shares of company stock valued at $6,023,064,684 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America declared that its board has authorized a stock 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 buy up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.