Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Shares Up 1.1% – Should You Buy?

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) shares rose 1.1% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $40.25 and last traded at $39.68. Approximately 10,235,671 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 38,931,676 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.25.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on BAC shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.27.

Bank of America Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $313.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The company had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. Bank of America’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 35.99%.

Bank of America announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 1,722,523 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.40, for a total transaction of $67,867,406.20. Following the sale, the insider now owns 794,120,913 shares in the company, valued at $31,288,363,972.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 1,722,523 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.40, for a total value of $67,867,406.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 794,120,913 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,288,363,972.20. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 147,650,481 shares of company stock worth $6,050,547,676 in the last ninety days. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of America

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Bank of America by 5.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,437,936,000 after buying an additional 36,124,363 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 104,030,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,502,720,000 after purchasing an additional 9,879,524 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $2,288,347,000 after purchasing an additional 895,884 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 0.4% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,354,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,530,241,000 after purchasing an additional 165,070 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Bank of America by 17.1% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 37,654,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,267,820,000 after buying an additional 5,488,790 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.