Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Upgraded at Hsbc Global Res

Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on BAC. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays boosted their price target on Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley lowered Bank of America from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $48.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Bank of America from $57.00 to $54.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.50.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Bank of America stock opened at $46.21 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $45.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.15. Bank of America has a 52 week low of $31.27 and a 52 week high of $48.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $354.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.80, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.25%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total value of $369,952,591.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 766,305,462 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,606,297,408.10. This trade represents a 1.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Bank of America

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of BAC. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 31,021.6% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 10,207,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $405,049,000 after acquiring an additional 10,175,100 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1,432.1% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,151,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $244,627,000 after buying an additional 5,749,567 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its holdings in Bank of America by 193.4% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 7,608,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $301,898,000 after acquiring an additional 5,015,378 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Bank of America by 3,550.7% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,547,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,804,560,000 after acquiring an additional 4,423,215 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D1 Capital Partners L.P. bought a new stake in Bank of America in the third quarter worth about $174,858,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

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.