Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Receives $42.22 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation, twelve have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $42.22.

BAC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler Companies raised shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Barclays increased their price objective on Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of BAC stock opened at $38.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. Bank of America has a fifty-two week low of $24.96 and a fifty-two week high of $44.44. The firm has a market cap of $299.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.33. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $40.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.70.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.99%.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total transaction of $559,278,840.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,020,161,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,958,509,063.91. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Bank of America news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now owns 1,020,161,313 shares in the company, valued at approximately $44,958,509,063.91. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 114,391,986 shares of company stock worth $4,719,796,383. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Bank of America

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 402.2% during the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 547 shares during the period. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its stake 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 buying an additional 646 shares during the period. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.