Brokerages Set Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) Price Target at $50.61

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and sixteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $50.9211.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on BAC shares. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $52.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Baird R W downgraded shares of Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $51.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 13th.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total value of $6,762,177.87. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at $10,180,656.99. The trade was a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 0.3% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 148,176,755 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,982,863,000 after purchasing an additional 403,652 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the second quarter valued at approximately $5,091,641,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Bank of America by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 60,417,407 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,521,218,000 after buying an additional 803,570 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 51,405,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,432,516,000 after buying an additional 2,557,943 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 45.1% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 48,112,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,007,718,000 after acquiring an additional 14,960,086 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Price Performance

NYSE BAC opened at $51.67 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14. Bank of America has a 12-month low of $33.06 and a 12-month high of $52.88. The company has a market capitalization of $382.69 billion, a PE ratio of 15.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.34. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $48.87 and its 200-day moving average is $44.73.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.03. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.81% and a return on equity of 10.25%. The company had revenue of ($22,273.00) million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.79 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.83 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 32.75%.

Bank of America declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, July 23rd that allows the company to buyback $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are 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.