Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.03 EPS

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03, RTT News reports. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share.

Bank of America Price Performance

NYSE:BAC opened at $42.61 on Friday. Bank of America Co. has a 52 week low of $24.96 and a 52 week high of $44.44. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $39.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.38. The company has a market capitalization of $333.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.44%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 35.99%.

Bank of America announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at $3,824,063.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total value of $369,952,591.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 766,305,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 144,633,120 shares of company stock worth $5,862,871,640. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BAC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays boosted their price target on Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.62.

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.