Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Price Target Raised to $70.00

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) had its price target lifted by Morgan Stanley from $67.00 to $70.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on BAC. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. HSBC increased their price objective on Bank of America from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Citigroup boosted their target price on Bank of America from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on Bank of America from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Twenty-three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.86.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.1%

BAC stock opened at $53.22 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $388.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $47.57. Bank of America has a 1-year low of $33.06 and a 1-year high of $53.99.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $28.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.05 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.76% and a net margin of 15.70%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.81 EPS. Analysts expect that Bank of America will post 3.7 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 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.52%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that authorizes the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Bank of America

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. VeraBank N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 2.7% in the third quarter. VeraBank N.A. now owns 11,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $592,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Mcrae Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Bank of America during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $210,000. CFO4Life Group LLC lifted its stake in Bank of America by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC now owns 16,425 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $847,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. Harold Davidson & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 74.7% in the 3rd quarter. Harold Davidson & Associates Inc. now owns 8,932 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $461,000 after purchasing an additional 3,819 shares during the period. Finally, MRP Capital Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 3rd quarter valued at $828,000. Hedge funds and other 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.