Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Price Target Raised to $56.00

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) had its price target raised by Wells Fargo & Company from $52.00 to $56.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target 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. Citigroup upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.26.

Bank of America Stock Up 1.9 %

BAC opened at $46.75 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $358.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.32. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $41.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.37. Bank of America has a fifty-two week low of $29.22 and a fifty-two week high of $46.84.

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

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

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 6,754,272 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.79, for a total transaction of $268,752,482.88. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 921,706,667 shares in the company, valued at $36,674,708,279.93. The trade was a 0.73 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 102,848,970 shares of company stock valued at $4,145,103,288. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of America

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 37,393 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,484,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the period. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.1% during the third quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 20,863 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $828,000 after buying an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. McAdam LLC raised its position in Bank of America by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 11,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $455,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the last quarter. Integrity Financial Corp WA boosted its position in Bank of America by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Integrity Financial Corp WA now owns 14,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $590,000 after acquiring an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BTC Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Bank of America by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,248 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $805,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.