Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Receives $44.26 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-three analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $44.26.

Several analysts have recently commented on BAC shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays lifted their price target on Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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, November 15th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.0 %

Bank of America stock opened at $47.77 on Friday. Bank of America has a 1 year low of $29.32 and a 1 year high of $47.98. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $42.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.92. The firm has a market cap of $366.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.32. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Bank of America will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 2.18%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 37.82%.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total transaction of $465,811,996.80. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 835,908,435 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,088,345,979.30. This represents a 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 70,007,916 shares of company stock valued at $2,829,836,123. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its position in Bank of America by 31,021.6% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 10,207,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $405,049,000 after purchasing an additional 10,175,100 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 959.6% during the 2nd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 9,327,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $370,948,000 after buying an additional 8,447,091 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the first quarter worth approximately $261,923,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Bank of America by 1,432.1% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,151,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $244,627,000 after acquiring an additional 5,749,567 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 193.4% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 7,608,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $301,898,000 after purchasing an additional 5,015,378 shares during the period. 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.