Wells Fargo & Company Increases Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Price Target to $56.00

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) had its price target upped by Wells Fargo & Company from $52.00 to $56.00 in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, October 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.26.

Bank of America Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of Bank of America stock traded up $0.85 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $46.75. 40,488,863 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 38,721,895. The company has a 50 day moving average of $41.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.33. Bank of America has a fifty-two week low of $29.22 and a fifty-two week high of $46.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The stock has a market cap of $358.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. Bank of America had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Bank of America will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.22%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.82%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has initiated 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 repurchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at $3,824,063.60. This trade represents a 48.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total transaction of $369,952,591.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 766,305,462 shares in the company, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. This represents a 1.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 107,883,988 shares of company stock valued at $4,344,741,752 over the last three months. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of America

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Summit Global Investments lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 237.6% in the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 51,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,035,000 after buying an additional 36,089 shares during the period. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 125.8% in the third quarter. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP now owns 61,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,421,000 after buying an additional 33,983 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 27.1% in the first quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 98,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,734,000 after buying an additional 20,916 shares during the period. SteelPeak Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 37.7% in the second quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 54,393 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,163,000 after buying an additional 14,901 shares during the period. Finally, Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC bought a new stake in Bank of America in the third quarter valued at $9,670,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

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.