Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Stock Price Up 0.7% Following Analyst Upgrade

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) shares were up 0.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $46.00 to $50.00. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Bank of America traded as high as $37.72 and last traded at $37.58. Approximately 12,348,556 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 39,122,210 shares. The stock had previously closed at $37.33.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on BAC. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. HSBC upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays cut their price objective on Bank of America from $58.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seventeen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.20.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of America

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Graney & King LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Collier Financial bought a new stake in Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Vega Investment Solutions bought a new position in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $285.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.67, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $41.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.62.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $27.37 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.83 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 32.30%.

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.