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

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 29th,RTT News reports. Investors 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 yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th.

Bank of America has increased its dividend 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 dividend payout ratio of 23.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $46.68 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $358.19 billion, a PE ratio of 14.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America has a 1-year low of $32.35 and a 1-year high of $48.08. The company’s fifty 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 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. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.70 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Bank of America will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BAC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. HSBC raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Citigroup raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.