Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Board Authorizes Share Repurchase Program

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, July 24th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE BAC traded down $0.22 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $42.19. 36,506,366 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 38,822,180. Bank of America has a 12-month low of $24.96 and a 12-month high of $44.44. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $40.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.14. The firm has a market cap of $329.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.35.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.04. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The company had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.88 earnings per share. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Bank of America will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.47%. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 33.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on BAC shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price target (up from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.92.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total value of $559,278,840.51. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,020,161,313 shares in the company, valued at $44,958,509,063.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 36,753,983 shares of company stock worth $1,588,489,324 over the last 90 days. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.