Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Hits New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day 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. The stock had previously closed at $46.75.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays increased their price objective on Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.26.

Insider Activity

In other Bank of America news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the business’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 transaction of $3,661,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,824,063.60. The trade was a 48.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 6,754,272 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.79, for a total value of $268,752,482.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 921,706,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,674,708,279.93. This represents a 0.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 102,848,970 shares of company stock worth $4,145,103,288 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of America

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 1.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,546,871,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700,141 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,288,347,000 after purchasing an additional 895,884 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Bank of America by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,215,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,794,164,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731,003 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Bank of America by 0.4% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,354,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,530,241,000 after purchasing an additional 165,070 shares during the period. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 22,341,213 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $886,499,000 after buying an additional 601,211 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.1 %

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $41.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.44. 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 has a market capitalization of $358.48 billion, a PE ratio of 16.99, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.82%.

Bank of America declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.