Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Upgraded to Accumulate at Phillip Securities

Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) from a neutral rating to an accumulate rating in a report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. Phillip Securities currently has $44.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock.

BAC has been the topic of several other research reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Cfra reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $39.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.69.

Bank of America Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $42.33 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $39.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $331.04 billion, a PE ratio of 14.65, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America has a 52 week low of $24.96 and a 52 week high of $44.44.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. Analysts forecast that Bank of America will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.46%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 35.99%.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $402,577.37. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were 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 owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,420,599 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.39, for a total transaction of $229,779,191.61. Following the sale, the insider now owns 980,061,561 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $41,544,809,570.79. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 144,633,120 shares of company stock worth $5,862,871,640. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Bank of America

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $24,437,936,000 after buying an additional 36,124,363 shares in the last quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB raised 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 purchasing an additional 8,447,091 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Bank of America in the 1st quarter valued at about $261,923,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 1,432.1% during the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,151,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $244,627,000 after purchasing an additional 5,749,567 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 290.7% during the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 7,114,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $269,763,000 after purchasing an additional 5,293,000 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by 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.