Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Trading 0.2% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) shares traded up 0.2% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $40.09 and last traded at $40.00. 5,059,113 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 38,754,676 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.93.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BAC. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Cfra reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $39.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.27.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.9 %

The company has a market cap of $315.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $39.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.20. 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 (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.58%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is 35.99%.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In related news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $402,577.37. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at $3,824,063.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 156,918,857 shares of company stock valued at $6,421,694,213 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of America

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Bank of America by 47.0% during the fourth quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 5,426,830 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $182,721,000 after purchasing an additional 1,734,530 shares in the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp boosted its position in Bank of America by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 132,995 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,478,000 after purchasing an additional 386 shares in the last quarter. Northwest Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at about $213,000. Jacobi Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Bank of America by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 171,412 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,771,000 after buying an additional 2,520 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,600,000. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

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.