Odeon Capital Group upgraded shares of Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, PriceTargets.com reports. They currently have $46.50 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock.
Several other analysts also recently commented on BAC. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Bank of America from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research note on Thursday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods began coverage on Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, July 7th. They set a market perform rating and a $43.87 target price for the company. Evercore ISI reissued a buy rating and set a $43.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Friday, July 2nd. Credit Suisse Group increased their target price on Bank of America from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, July 16th. Finally, Zacks Investment Research raised Bank of America from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $42.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, June 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of Buy and an average price target of $40.42.
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Bank of America stock opened at $40.94 on Monday. Bank of America has a fifty-two week low of $22.95 and a fifty-two week high of $43.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 0.74. The company has a market capitalization of $344.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.69, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.55. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.04.
Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.26. The firm had revenue of $21.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.77 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 11.08% and a net margin of 30.82%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.37 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Bank of America will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current year.
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 2nd. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is 38.50%.
In other Bank of America news, Vice Chairman Thong M. Nguyen sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.98, for a total transaction of $3,198,400.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 337,006 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,473,499.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Arden Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 12.5% during the 2nd quarter. Arden Trust Co now owns 93,322 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,847,000 after purchasing an additional 10,343 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 33.9% during the 1st quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 346,170 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,393,000 after purchasing an additional 87,569 shares during the period. Mark Stevens lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 9.6% during the 1st quarter. Mark Stevens now owns 26,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,016,000 after purchasing an additional 2,306 shares during the period. Galvin Gaustad & Stein LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Galvin Gaustad & Stein LLC now owns 168,175 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,934,000 after purchasing an additional 3,275 shares during the period. Finally, NEXT Financial Group Inc lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 15.6% during the 2nd quarter. NEXT Financial Group Inc now owns 65,919 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,718,000 after purchasing an additional 8,905 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.
About Bank of America
Bank of America Corp. is a bank and financial holding company, which engages in the provision of banking and nonbank financial services. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking, Global Wealth and Investment Management, Global Banking, Global Markets, and All Other. The Consumer Banking segment offers credit, banking, and investment products and services to consumers and small businesses.
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