Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report released on Sunday.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on BAC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Bank of America from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Daiwa Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Seaport Global Securities raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $59.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $52.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Twenty-one analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.23.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE:BAC opened at $51.52 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $381.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.04, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $50.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.04. Bank of America has a fifty-two week low of $33.06 and a fifty-two week high of $52.88.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $28.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.05 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 15.70% and a return on equity of 10.76%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.81 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bank of America news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total value of $6,762,177.87. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,180,656.99. The trade was a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nova Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 75.2% in the second quarter. Nova Wealth Management Inc. now owns 529 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 246.5% during the second quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC now owns 523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. RMG Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Steph & Co. boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 224.3% during the third quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 379 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CGC Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 585.4% during the second quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 521 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.