Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Stock Rating Upgraded by HSBC

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) was upgraded by research analysts at HSBC from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a $50.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock. HSBC’s target price points to a potential upside of 8.20% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms also recently commented on BAC. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Bank of America in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $52.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley cut Bank of America from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $48.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, UBS Group raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.50.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE:BAC opened at $46.21 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $354.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.33. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.12. 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 $31.27 and a 1 year high of $48.08.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Bank of America will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total value of $369,952,591.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 766,305,462 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,606,297,408.10. The trade was a 1.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in Bank of America during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised its position in Bank of America by 525.9% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 1,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 852 shares during the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $73,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.