Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Shares Down 1.1% Following Analyst Downgrade

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) dropped 1.1% on Tuesday after Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on the stock from $49.00 to $47.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Bank of America traded as low as $38.94 and last traded at $39.24. Approximately 6,940,153 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 39,132,074 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.68.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays upped their price target on Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Piper Sandler raised Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.12.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total transaction of $530,145,635.91. Following the sale, the insider now owns 998,961,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,085,191,337.27. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,291,807 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total value of $530,145,635.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 998,961,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,085,191,337.27. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 140,942,405 shares of company stock worth $5,785,202,516 in the last quarter. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Bank of America by 402.2% during the 1st quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 547 shares during the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its stake in Bank of America by 839.0% during the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 646 shares during the last quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Bank of America during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new position in Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Stock Down 1.1 %

The business has a 50 day moving average of $39.50 and a 200-day moving average of $39.09. The stock has a market cap of $306.79 billion, a PE ratio of 13.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.22 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.65%. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.99%.

Bank of America announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.