Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Rating Reiterated by Royal Bank of Canada

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by investment analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $46.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target suggests a potential upside of 14.97% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Cfra reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $39.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on 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 raised Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.27.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of Bank of America stock traded up $0.08 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $40.01. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,027,146 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,754,676. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $39.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.20. The company has a market capitalization of $312.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current 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.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.22 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of America will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

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

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the insider now owns 1,020,161,313 shares in the company, valued at $44,958,509,063.91. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related 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 value of $559,278,840.51. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,020,161,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,958,509,063.91. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 156,918,857 shares of company stock worth $6,421,694,213 over the last quarter. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of America

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,601,000. American National Bank & Trust Co. VA purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the first quarter valued at $1,322,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 27.1% in the first quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 98,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,734,000 after purchasing an additional 20,916 shares during the period. Foster Group Inc. grew its holdings in Bank of America by 19.4% during the 1st quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 8,977 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $340,000 after purchasing an additional 1,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Councilmark Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America in the 1st quarter worth $771,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.