Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Given Hold Rating at HSBC

HSBC reiterated their hold rating on shares of Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $39.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $38.00.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on BAC. Odeon Capital Group cut shares of Bank of America from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $33.90 target price on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, December 1st. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Bank of America from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and increased their target price for the stock from $32.00 to $41.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $36.15.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of BAC opened at $37.92 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $299.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.35, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. Bank of America has a fifty-two week low of $24.96 and a fifty-two week high of $38.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $34.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.31.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 12th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. Bank of America had a net margin of 15.42% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The company had revenue of $22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America will post 3.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 29th. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st will be given a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.53%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 31.27%.

Institutional Trading of Bank of America

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Roundview Capital LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 1.5% in the first quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 135,764 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,596,000 after purchasing an additional 2,013 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its stake in Bank of America by 150.3% in the first quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,985 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 1,192 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in Bank of America by 4.2% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 405,098 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,698,000 after purchasing an additional 16,319 shares during the period. First Western Trust Bank purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the first quarter worth $586,000. Finally, Pearl River Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the first quarter worth $534,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.