Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Upgraded to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Sunday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on BAC. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $52.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Phillip Securities lowered Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Bank of America from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Bank of America from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Bank of America from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.29.

Bank of America Stock Performance

BAC opened at $51.28 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $379.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.88. Bank of America has a 1-year low of $33.06 and a 1-year high of $52.88.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $28.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.05 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.76% and a net margin of 15.70%.The company’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.81 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Bank of America will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, July 23rd that allows the company to buyback $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total transaction of $6,762,177.87. Following the transaction, the insider owned 223,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,180,656.99. This represents a 39.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 49,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,543,000 after buying an additional 694 shares during the period. Constitution Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 3rd quarter worth $209,000. Petros Family Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Petros Family Wealth LLC now owns 20,124 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,038,000 after buying an additional 453 shares during the period. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Lakeshore Capital Group Inc. now owns 15,375 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $793,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the period. Finally, Goldstone Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 26.3% in the 3rd quarter. Goldstone Financial Group LLC now owns 38,445 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,983,000 after buying an additional 8,004 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.