Barclays Cuts Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Price Target to $54.00

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) had its price target lowered by Barclays from $58.00 to $54.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on BAC. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Bank of America from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Baird R W raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.20.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE BAC opened at $37.44 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $284.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.63, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. Bank of America has a twelve month low of $33.07 and a twelve month high of $48.08. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.59.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.10. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. The business had revenue of $27.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.83 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Bank of America will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.95%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of America

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 142,289,199 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,243,000,000 after acquiring an additional 2,033,229 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 122,437,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,381,126,000 after purchasing an additional 11,691,451 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,226,989,000. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Bank of America by 23.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 88,210,527 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,876,853,000 after buying an additional 17,031,143 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,935,940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,985,785,000 after buying an additional 9,980,859 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is 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.