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

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)’s share price shot 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. 8,822,087 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 41,098,621 shares. The stock had previously closed at $35.23.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note 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. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Bank of America from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $32.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $38.29.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rossmore Private Capital raised its holdings in Bank of America by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Rossmore Private Capital now owns 26,537 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $894,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the period. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Fort Sheridan Advisors LLC now owns 39,526 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,309,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the period. Chemistry Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Chemistry Wealth Management LLC now owns 109,541 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,154,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the period. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,976 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $336,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares during the period. Finally, Kennedy Investment Group increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Kennedy Investment Group now owns 58,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,953,000 after purchasing an additional 321 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $35.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The company has a market cap of $283.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.41, a P/E/G 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.06. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The company had revenue of $25.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.67%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 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.