Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Sets New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $52.00 to $56.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Bank of America traded as high as $46.88 and last traded at $46.79, with a volume of 2977969 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $46.75.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.26.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,824,063.60. This represents a 48.91 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total transaction of $465,811,996.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 835,908,435 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,088,345,979.30. This trade represents a 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 102,848,970 shares of company stock valued at $4,145,103,288 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Bank of America

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Quent Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 3.6% during the first quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 29,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,129,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its position in Bank of America by 15.4% during the first quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 82,569 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,131,000 after purchasing an additional 11,010 shares during the period. Wellington Wealth Strategies LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the first quarter valued at approximately $305,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Bank of America by 15.8% in the 1st quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 165,748 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,285,000 after purchasing an additional 22,595 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cadence Bank boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 0.9% in the first quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 92,994 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,526,000 after buying an additional 815 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of America Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $356.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.88, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.32. The company’s 50-day moving average is $41.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.51.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. Bank of America had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.24%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan 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 repurchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.