Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Trading Up 1.8% After Analyst Upgrade

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) shares were up 1.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday after BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on the stock from $36.00 to $37.00. BMO Capital Markets currently has a market perform rating on the stock. Bank of America traded as high as $35.91 and last traded at $35.87. Approximately 8,822,087 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 41,098,621 shares. The stock had previously closed at $35.23.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the company. Odeon Capital Group lowered Bank of America from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.90 target price for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on Bank of America from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. HSBC restated a “hold” rating and issued a $39.00 target price (up previously from $38.00) on shares of Bank of America in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Bank of America from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Bank of America from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Bank of America presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.29.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of America

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Fortis Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Trading Up 2.1 %

The business has a 50-day moving average of $35.55 and a 200-day moving average of $32.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $283.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.41, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.39.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $25.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.49 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.94%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.22%.

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.