Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Shares Up 1.7% After Analyst Upgrade

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) shares were up 1.7% during trading on Friday after Oppenheimer raised their price target on the stock from $55.00 to $63.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Bank of America traded as high as $55.31 and last traded at $55.19. Approximately 71,939,356 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 78% from the average daily volume of 40,345,098 shares. The stock had previously closed at $54.26.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on BAC. Dbs Bank upgraded Bank of America to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Twenty-three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.59.

Read Our Latest Analysis on BAC

Key Stores Impacting Bank of America

Here are the key news stories impacting Bank of America this week:

Institutional Trading of Bank of America

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BAC. AIA Group Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 61.2% during the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 394,359 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,345,000 after buying an additional 149,652 shares in the last quarter. Keel Point LLC boosted its position in Bank of America by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 44,738 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,308,000 after acquiring an additional 1,052 shares during the last quarter. Garde Capital Inc. grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Garde Capital Inc. now owns 13,536 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $698,000 after acquiring an additional 1,198 shares in the last quarter. Farmers National Bank grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. Farmers National Bank now owns 5,053 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $261,000 after acquiring an additional 596 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MRP Capital Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the third quarter valued at approximately $556,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $52.76 and its 200 day moving average price is $49.75. The firm has a market cap of $403.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.04 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Bank of America (NYSE:BACGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.06 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $5.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.05 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 15.70% and a return on equity of 10.76%. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.81 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 26th. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 30.52%.

Bank of America Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Bank of America Corporation is a multinational financial services company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It provides a broad array of banking, investment, asset management and related financial and risk management products and services to individual consumers, small- and middle-market businesses, large corporations, governments and institutional investors. The firm operates through consumer banking, global wealth and investment management, global banking and markets businesses, offering capabilities across lending, deposits, payments, advisory and capital markets.

Its consumer-facing offerings include checking and savings accounts, mortgages, home equity lending, auto loans, credit cards and small business banking, supported by a nationwide branch network and digital channels.

Further Reading

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