Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Barclays Analyst Says

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) had its price objective raised by Barclays from $53.00 to $58.00 in a research report report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on BAC. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $57.00 to $54.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Citigroup raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Phillip Securities raised 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 report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased 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 report on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.50.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $46.21 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $45.38 and its 200-day moving average is $42.12. Bank of America has a 52 week low of $31.27 and a 52 week high of $48.08. The firm has a market cap of $354.56 billion, a PE ratio of 16.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.33. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. The company 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 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Bank of America will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 37.82%.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total transaction of $369,952,591.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 766,305,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. This represents a 1.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.29% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in Bank of America in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 525.9% during the third quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 1,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 852 shares in the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America in the third quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in Bank of America in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $73,000. Institutional investors 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.