Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft currently has $45.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $48.00 price target (up from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler Companies upgraded shares of Bank of America from an underweight rating to a neutral rating and boosted their target price for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Bank of America from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $42.22.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $38.78 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $303.27 billion, a PE ratio of 13.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.35. Bank of America has a 12-month low of $24.96 and a 12-month high of $44.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.49.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The company had revenue of $25.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.22 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. Bank of America’s revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Bank of America will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

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

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a $0.26 dividend. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.99%.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total value of $559,278,840.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,020,161,313 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,958,509,063.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total transaction of $559,278,840.51. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,020,161,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,958,509,063.91. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,824,063.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 112,670,620 shares of company stock worth $4,651,681,930 in the last 90 days. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,734,407,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,437,936,000 after buying an additional 36,124,363 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its stake in Bank of America by 360.9% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 37,290,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,255,514,000 after purchasing an additional 29,198,846 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 104,030,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,502,720,000 after buying an additional 9,879,524 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 959.6% in the 2nd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 9,327,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $370,948,000 after buying an additional 8,447,091 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of America Company Profile

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.