Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Shares Up 0.2% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) were up 0.2% on Wednesday after Oppenheimer raised their price target on the stock from $48.00 to $49.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Bank of America traded as high as $39.54 and last traded at $39.28. Approximately 6,327,327 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 39,061,266 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.22.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price target (up from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Cfra reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $39.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective 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. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of America news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $402,577.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total transaction of $530,145,635.91. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 998,961,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,085,191,337.27. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 140,942,405 shares of company stock valued at $5,785,202,516 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,090,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in Bank of America by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 406,033 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,671,000 after buying an additional 8,158 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Sarl boosted its stake in Bank of America by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Sarl now owns 305,944 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,301,000 after buying an additional 31,331 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at $15,031,000. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,189,379 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,353,216,000 after acquiring an additional 4,338,679 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $39.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.09. The stock has a market cap of $307.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.59, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.22 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 35.99%.

Bank of America declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program 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 reacquire up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s management 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.