Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Trading 1.1% Higher – Time to Buy?

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) shares traded up 1.1% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $40.25 and last traded at $39.68. 10,235,671 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 38,931,676 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.25.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on BAC. StockNews.com lowered Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target (up from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.27.

Bank of America Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $313.13 billion, a PE ratio of 13.82, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $39.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.10.

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

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 6th. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.99%.

Bank of America declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 1,722,523 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.40, for a total value of $67,867,406.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 794,120,913 shares in the company, valued at $31,288,363,972.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 1,722,523 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.40, for a total transaction of $67,867,406.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 794,120,913 shares in the company, valued at $31,288,363,972.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 147,650,481 shares of company stock worth $6,050,547,676. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of America

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,437,936,000 after acquiring an additional 36,124,363 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 360.9% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 37,290,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,255,514,000 after acquiring an additional 29,198,846 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 104,030,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,502,720,000 after acquiring an additional 9,879,524 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 959.6% during the 2nd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 9,327,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $370,948,000 after acquiring an additional 8,447,091 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 1st quarter worth about $261,923,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.