Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Reaches New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $52.00 to $56.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Bank of America traded as high as $46.88 and last traded at $46.79, with a volume of 2977969 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $46.75.

BAC has been the topic of several other reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Citigroup upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley increased 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 report on Wednesday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.26.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total transaction of $369,952,591.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 766,305,462 shares in the company, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. The trade was a 1.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This represents a 48.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 102,848,970 shares of company stock worth $4,145,103,288. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of America

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Bank of America by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,546,871,000 after buying an additional 1,700,141 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Bank of America by 1.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,288,347,000 after purchasing an additional 895,884 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 4.0% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,215,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,794,164,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731,003 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 0.4% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,354,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,530,241,000 after acquiring an additional 165,070 shares during the period. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC increased its holdings in Bank of America by 2.8% in the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 22,341,213 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $886,499,000 after purchasing an additional 601,211 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.0 %

The business has a fifty day moving average of $41.49 and a 200 day moving average of $40.37. The firm has a market cap of $358.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.32. 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 (NYSE:BAC) last posted 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 business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.82%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.