Brokerages Set Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) PT at $48.45

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-four analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $48.31.

BAC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of America

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Collier Financial acquired a new stake in Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3,883.2% in the 4th quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc now owns 559,995 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 545,936 shares during the last quarter. Graney & King LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Vega Investment Solutions acquired a new position in Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE BAC opened at $41.87 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $318.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. Bank of America has a 12 month low of $34.15 and a 12 month high of $48.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The company has a 50-day moving average of $44.17 and a 200-day moving average of $43.96.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Bank of America will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.48%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.