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

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)’s share price traded up 1.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Wolfe Research upgraded the stock from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating. Wolfe Research now has a $42.00 price target 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 trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 41,098,621 shares. The stock had previously closed at $35.23.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on BAC. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Bank of America from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 target price (up from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Citigroup raised their target price on Bank of America from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Bank of America from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price target on Bank of America from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.53.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Roundview Capital LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Roundview Capital LLC now owns 135,764 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,596,000 after buying an additional 2,013 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 150.3% during 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 in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 4.2% during 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 in the last quarter. First Western Trust Bank purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America during the first quarter worth about $586,000. Finally, Pearl River Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America during the first quarter worth about $534,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Up 3.4 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $291.72 billion, a PE ratio of 12.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $35.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.31.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.06. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.94%. The company had revenue of $25.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. Bank of America’s revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.16 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 33.22%.

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.