Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) shot up 1.3% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $39.68 and last traded at $39.62. 5,705,705 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 39,101,648 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.10.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on BAC shares. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Piper Sandler Companies 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Cfra reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $39.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.22.

Bank of America Trading Up 3.2 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $319.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.08, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.33. The business has a 50-day moving average of $40.03 and a 200-day moving average of $38.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $25.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.22 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. The firm’s revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 35.99%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bank of America news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $402,355.91. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total transaction of $530,145,635.91. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 998,961,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,085,191,337.27. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 114,391,986 shares of company stock valued at $4,719,796,383 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of America

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 402.2% during the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 547 shares during the period. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 839.0% during the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 646 shares during the period. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Bank of America in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.