Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Stock Price Up 0.5% – Here’s What Happened

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) was up 0.5% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $46.15 and last traded at $46.10. Approximately 5,883,063 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 38,579,504 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.87.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays raised their target price on Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Citigroup raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.26.

Bank of America Trading Up 1.9 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $358.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.00, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.32. The business has a 50-day moving average of $41.49 and a 200-day moving average of $40.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 dividend yield of 2.22%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.82%.

Bank of America declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In related news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total transaction of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. The trade was a 48.91 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total value of $369,952,591.90. Following the sale, the insider now owns 766,305,462 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,606,297,408.10. The trade was a 1.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 107,883,988 shares of company stock valued at $4,344,741,752. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of America

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,546,871,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700,141 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,288,347,000 after acquiring an additional 895,884 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 4.0% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,215,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,794,164,000 after acquiring an additional 1,731,003 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 0.4% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,354,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,530,241,000 after acquiring an additional 165,070 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 2.8% during the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 22,341,213 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $886,499,000 after acquiring an additional 601,211 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.