Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Shares Up 1.1% on Analyst Upgrade

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC)’s stock price rose 1.1% on Friday after Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $56.00 to $59.00. Royal Bank Of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Bank of America traded as high as $55.30 and last traded at $55.14. Approximately 40,210,939 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 0% from the average daily volume of 40,062,250 shares. The stock had previously closed at $54.56.

BAC has been the subject of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Bank of America from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Ameriprise Financial raised shares of Bank of America to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Twenty-three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.86.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the second quarter worth $5,091,641,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 640.5% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 46,516,728 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,399,798,000 after purchasing an additional 40,235,201 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its position in Bank of America by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 144,371,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,448,816,000 after purchasing an additional 14,275,810 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 124.8% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 17,619,837 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $833,771,000 after purchasing an additional 9,782,208 shares during the period. Finally, Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the third quarter valued at about $224,863,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Trading Up 1.1%

The firm has a market cap of $402.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.02 and a beta of 1.30. The company’s 50 day moving average is $52.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.13. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.76% and a net margin of 15.70%.The firm had revenue of $5.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.81 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 30.52%.

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.