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

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 29th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.26 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, March 28th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.23%.

Bank of America has increased its dividend payment by an average of 8.6% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 11 consecutive years. Bank of America has a payout ratio of 23.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Bank of America to earn $4.28 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 24.3%.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE:BAC traded down $0.11 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $46.74. 23,666,990 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 37,657,961. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $45.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $358.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America has a 12 month low of $32.35 and a 12 month high of $48.08.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.70 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Bank of America will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Bank of America from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.58.

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.