Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Rating Increased to Accumulate at Phillip Securities

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) was upgraded by Phillip Securities from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a $44.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock. Phillip Securities’ price target points to a potential upside of 3.97% from the company’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective 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, Cfra reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $39.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.69.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $42.32 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $330.96 billion, a PE ratio of 14.64, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.33. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $39.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Bank of America has a 1 year low of $24.96 and a 1 year high of $44.44.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. The business’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 6,349,021 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.41, for a total transaction of $269,261,980.61. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 992,612,058 shares in the company, valued at $42,096,677,379.78. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 144,633,120 shares of company stock worth $5,862,871,640. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of America

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BAC. McAdam LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 11,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $455,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the period. BTC Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,248 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $805,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the period. Central Bank & Trust Co. lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 15.1% in the 2nd quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the period. SNS Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. SNS Financial Group LLC now owns 7,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $310,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the period. Finally, Chicago Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 13,923 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $552,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.