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

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) hit a new 52-week high 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. The stock had previously closed at $46.75.

A number of other research firms have also commented on BAC. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.26.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 6,754,272 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.79, for a total value of $268,752,482.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 921,706,667 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,674,708,279.93. This represents a 0.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This trade represents a 48.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 102,848,970 shares of company stock worth $4,145,103,288 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of America

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of America in the second quarter worth $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 839.0% in the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 646 shares during the period. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new position in shares of Bank of America in the third quarter worth $29,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of America in the second quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 525.9% in the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 1,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 852 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.0 %

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $41.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $358.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued 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 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%. The firm’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 2.23%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 37.82%.

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

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.