Bank of America Co. (BAC) To Go Ex-Dividend on March 7th

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) declared 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%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th.

Bank of America has increased its dividend by an average of 8.6% annually 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% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Bank of America to earn $4.29 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 24.2%.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $46.68 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $358.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America has a 52-week low of $32.35 and a 52-week high of $48.08. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $45.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.73.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on BAC. UBS Group raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Bank of America from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.