Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Cut to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on BAC. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Bank of America from an underweight rating to a neutral rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Bank of America from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Bank of America from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Bank of America from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $45.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $42.27.

Bank of America Trading Up 2.2 %

BAC opened at $40.11 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $313.68 billion, a PE ratio of 13.88, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33. The business has a 50 day moving average of $39.36 and a 200-day moving average of $39.15. Bank of America has a 52 week low of $24.96 and a 52 week 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.

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

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

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This is an increase from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider now owns 1,020,161,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,958,509,063.91. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 1,020,161,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,958,509,063.91. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,824,063.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 147,650,481 shares of company stock valued at $6,050,547,676. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 5.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,437,936,000 after purchasing an additional 36,124,363 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 29,198,846 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in 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 period. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Bank of America during the first quarter valued at about $261,923,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.