Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Stock Price Up 0.3%

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) was up 0.3% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $39.90 and last traded at $39.65. Approximately 6,105,431 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 39,209,668 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.52.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BAC. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. StockNews.com raised Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 target price (up previously from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Bank of America from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Bank of America from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.22.

Bank of America Stock Up 0.1 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.97. The stock has a market cap of $309.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33.

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. The firm had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.22 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.88 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.63%. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.99%.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 4,941,403 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.94, for a total value of $197,359,635.82. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 820,719,071 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,779,519,695.74. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 4,941,403 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.94, for a total transaction of $197,359,635.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 820,719,071 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,779,519,695.74. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $402,577.37. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 134,721,864 shares of company stock worth $5,539,943,089. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Bank of America

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BAC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Bank of America by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,437,936,000 after purchasing an additional 36,124,363 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its position in Bank of America by 360.9% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 37,290,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,255,514,000 after acquiring an additional 29,198,846 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 10.5% during the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 9,879,524 shares in the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 959.6% in the 2nd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 9,327,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $370,948,000 after purchasing an additional 8,447,091 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 1st quarter valued at $261,923,000. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

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.