Seaport Res Ptn Comments on Bank of America Co.’s Q4 2024 Earnings (NYSE:BAC)

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) – Equities research analysts at Seaport Res Ptn lowered their Q4 2024 earnings per share estimates for shares of Bank of America in a report released on Thursday, October 3rd. Seaport Res Ptn analyst J. Mitchell now forecasts that the financial services provider will earn $0.82 per share for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $0.87. Seaport Res Ptn has a “Strong-Buy” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Bank of America’s current full-year earnings is $3.28 per share. Seaport Res Ptn also issued estimates for Bank of America’s Q1 2025 earnings at $0.89 EPS and Q4 2025 earnings at $0.97 EPS.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on BAC. StockNews.com downgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 target price (up from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Bank of America from $49.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of America currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.27.

Bank of America Trading Up 2.2 %

Bank of America stock opened at $40.11 on Friday. 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 has a 12 month low of $24.96 and a 12 month high of $44.44. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.12. The firm has a market cap of $313.68 billion, a PE ratio of 13.88, a P/E/G 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 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $25.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of America

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Thrive Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. Thrive Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,831 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $509,000 after acquiring an additional 1,230 shares during the period. MRA Advisory Group boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. MRA Advisory Group now owns 6,416 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $255,000 after acquiring an additional 1,067 shares during the period. Rockland Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 119,639 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,747,000 after acquiring an additional 379 shares during the period. Abacus Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America during the 3rd quarter valued at about $217,000. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 22.7% during the 3rd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 128,873 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,114,000 after acquiring an additional 23,852 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total transaction of $559,278,840.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,020,161,313 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,958,509,063.91. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total transaction of $559,278,840.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,020,161,313 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,958,509,063.91. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,577.37. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 147,650,481 shares of company stock valued at $6,050,547,676 in the last three months. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Bank of America announced that its board has initiated 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 buy up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. 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 2.59%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.99%.

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.