Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Shares Up 0.3% Following Analyst Upgrade

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) rose 0.3% during trading on Monday after Oppenheimer raised their price target on the stock from $50.00 to $51.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Bank of America traded as high as $40.08 and last traded at $39.80. Approximately 8,022,651 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 39,045,796 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.69.

BAC has been the subject of a number of other reports. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $51.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Bank of America from $49.50 to $43.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays lowered their target price on Bank of America from $58.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Bank of America from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.25.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Collier Financial acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc grew its stake in Bank of America by 3,883.2% during the fourth quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc now owns 559,995 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 545,936 shares during the period. Graney & King LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Vega Investment Solutions purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.1 %

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $40.48 and a 200-day moving average of $43.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $301.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $27.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $26.83 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.62%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.95%.

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.