We recently published a list of the 13 Best American Dividend Stocks to Buy According to Analysts. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) stands against other best American dividend stocks.
Dividend-paying stocks have long benefited investors by delivering consistent and solid returns. During periods of economic uncertainty, they’ve generally performed more reliably than many other types of investments. Because of these qualities, more investors are turning to dividend stocks to take advantage of their compounding potential. This growing optimism has also encouraged several companies to join the dividend club, which was evident in the way tech firms eagerly began issuing dividends in 2024.
According to a report by S&P Dow Jones Indices, dividends paid by the S&P companies reached a new high of $167.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024, marking a 6.7% increase from the previous quarter’s $157.0 billion—which itself had set a record. This also represented an 8.7% rise compared to the $154.1 billion paid out in Q4 2023. For the full year, total dividend payments hit an all-time high of $629.6 billion in 2024, up 7.0% from the $588.2 billion distributed in 2023. The report further mentioned that the indicated dividends for the top 20 companies in the S&P index amounted to over $141 billion.
Howard Silverblatt, Senior Index Analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices, made the following comment about dividends:
“Under an increased tax, some of the expenditures may shift from buybacks to dividends. However, any shift was not seen as being on a dollar-for-dollar basis as dividends remain a long-term pure cash-flow item which must be incorporated into corporate budgets.”
Dividends have played a key role in driving overall returns from equity investments over the long haul. This was emphasized in a study by London-based Guinness Global Investors, which examined the broader market’s performance dating back to 1940. According to their analysis, dividends and reinvested payouts made up about 94% of the index’s total return during that time. To put it in perspective, a $100 investment made at the end of 1940 would have grown to roughly $525,000 by the end of 2019 if dividends were reinvested, compared to just $30,000 if the dividends had simply been taken as cash.
The report also pointed out that dividends become a more significant part of total returns the longer an investment is held. Since 1940, for the broader market, dividends have made up about 27% of total returns over a typical one-year holding period. Stretching that to three years, their contribution rises to 36%. Over five years, it climbs to 40%, and over ten years, it reaches 47%. For investors who hold their positions for twenty years, dividends end up accounting for around 57% of the total returns. Due to this performance, analysts also recommend investing in dividend stocks.
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Our Methodology:
We created this list by scanning Insider Monkey’s Q4 2024 database for US companies that have strong dividend policies and are traded on American stock exchanges. From that group, we further refined our selection criteria by identifying stocks with a projected upside potential of over 5% based on analyst price targets, as of April 20. The stocks are ranked according to their upside potential.
At Insider Monkey, we are obsessed with hedge funds. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC)
Upside Potential as of April 20: 29.16%
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) is a North Carolina-based multinational investment bank and financial services company. One of the bank’s key strengths lies in its diverse revenue base. The company operates across multiple areas of the financial sector, generating income from four main divisions: consumer banking, global wealth and investment management, global banking, and global markets. This diversified structure helps balance the business—when one segment faces headwinds, growth in another can help keep overall revenue steady.
In the first quarter of 2025, Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) delivered solid results, reporting $27.4 billion in revenue, a 6% increase year-over-year. The rise was largely driven by higher noninterest income across all business segments. Net interest income also grew 3% from the prior year, reaching $14.4 billion.
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC)’s balance sheet remained strong, with average deposits totaling $1.96 trillion, marking the seventh straight quarter of growth in this area. Its Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio stood at 11.8% under the standardized approach, well above the required minimum of 10.7%. During the quarter, the company returned $6.5 billion to shareholders, including $2.0 billion in common stock dividends and $4.5 billion in share repurchases.
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) currently pays a quarterly dividend of $0.26 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.78%, as of April 20. The company has been paying regular dividends to shareholders for the past 27 years and has raised dividends for 11 consecutive years. With an upside potential of nearly 30%, BAC is one of the best dividend stocks to invest in.
Overall, BAC ranks 5th on our list of the best American dividend stocks according to analysts. While we acknowledge the potential of BAC as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some deeply undervalued dividend stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for a deeply undervalued dividend stock that is more promising than BAC but that trades at 10 times its earnings and grows its earnings at double digit rates annually, check out our report about the dirt cheap dividend stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
