Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-three research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $48.58.

BAC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. HSBC upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its position in Bank of America by 31,021.6% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 10,207,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $405,049,000 after acquiring an additional 10,175,100 shares during the period. Swedbank AB lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 81.4% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 12,776,184 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $561,513,000 after purchasing an additional 5,733,810 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 130.9% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 9,692,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $425,976,000 after purchasing an additional 5,493,817 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 193.4% during the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 5,015,378 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 3,550.7% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,547,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,804,560,000 after buying an additional 4,423,215 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC stock opened at $46.73 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The company has a market cap of $358.57 billion, a PE ratio of 14.51, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America has a 12-month low of $32.35 and a 12-month high of $48.08. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.79.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.12 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.70 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Bank of America will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 32.30%.

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.