Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Trading 0.5% Higher

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)’s stock price traded up 0.5% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $40.44 and last traded at $40.37. 9,865,948 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 39,017,004 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.17.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BAC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective (up previously from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler upgraded Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.07.

Bank of America Trading Up 1.4 %

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $40.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market cap of $318.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.35.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.04. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. The business had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.55%. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.99%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 7,938,699 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.61, for a total transaction of $322,390,566.39. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 882,723,903 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,847,417,700.83. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Bank of America news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company’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 transaction of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,824,063.60. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 7,938,699 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.61, for a total transaction of $322,390,566.39. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 882,723,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,847,417,700.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 99,609,567 shares of company stock valued at $4,122,483,669. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of America

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 5.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,437,936,000 after purchasing an additional 36,124,363 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at $3,734,407,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 104,030,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,502,720,000 after buying an additional 9,879,524 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Bank of America by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,288,347,000 after buying an additional 895,884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Bank of America by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 41,833,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,408,520,000 after acquiring an additional 1,315,056 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.