Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Rating Increased to Outperform at Wolfe Research

Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note published on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has $42.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on BAC. HSBC reiterated a hold rating and set a $39.00 target price (up from $38.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Odeon Capital Group cut shares of Bank of America from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $33.90 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. UBS Group reiterated a neutral rating and set a $40.00 target price (up from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Bank of America from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $38.53.

Bank of America Price Performance

NYSE BAC opened at $36.97 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.31. The company has a market cap of $291.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.39. Bank of America has a 1 year low of $24.96 and a 1 year high of $38.35.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $25.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.49 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.94 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Bank of America will post 3.17 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 33.22%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of America

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fortis Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc grew its holdings in Bank of America by 98.1% during the 3rd quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 1,018 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 504 shares during the last quarter. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Castleview Partners LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. 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.