Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Price Target Raised to $53.00

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) had its price objective lifted by Barclays from $49.00 to $53.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on BAC. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Piper Sandler Companies upgraded shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.69.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $42.33 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $331.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.33. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.41. Bank of America has a 12 month low of $24.96 and a 12 month high of $44.44.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. The company 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 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The business’s revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Bank of America will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.46%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.99%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total transaction of $465,811,996.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 835,908,435 shares in the company, valued at $34,088,345,979.30. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total value of $465,811,996.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 835,908,435 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,088,345,979.30. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at $402,577.37. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 144,633,120 shares of company stock worth $5,862,871,640. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of America

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. McAdam LLC grew its stake 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 in the last quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Bank of America by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 20,248 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $805,000 after buying an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. grew its stake in Bank of America by 15.1% in the 2nd quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. SNS Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Bank of America by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. SNS Financial Group LLC now owns 7,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $310,000 after buying an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chicago Capital LLC grew its stake in Bank of America by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 13,923 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $552,000 after buying an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.