Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Trading Down 1.1% on Analyst Downgrade

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) dropped 1.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on the stock from $49.00 to $47.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Bank of America traded as low as $38.94 and last traded at $39.24. Approximately 6,940,153 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 39,132,074 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.68.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on BAC. Piper Sandler Companies raised shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Bank of America from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.12.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total value of $559,278,840.51. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,020,161,313 shares in the company, valued at $44,958,509,063.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Bank of America news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total transaction of $3,661,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at $3,824,063.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total value of $559,278,840.51. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,020,161,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,958,509,063.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 140,942,405 shares of company stock valued at $5,785,202,516 over the last 90 days. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Gilbert & Cook Inc. boosted its position in Bank of America by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 17,388 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $585,000 after purchasing an additional 662 shares during the last quarter. Rollins Financial lifted its stake in Bank of America by 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Rollins Financial now owns 441,919 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,879,000 after purchasing an additional 48,998 shares during the last quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC bought a new position in Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth about $1,090,000. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its position in Bank of America by 25.6% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 47,246 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,591,000 after buying an additional 9,626 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in Bank of America by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 406,033 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,671,000 after buying an additional 8,158 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

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 50-day moving average price of $39.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.07. The company has a market capitalization of $306.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.58, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 business 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is 35.99%.

Bank of America announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase 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 often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.