Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Receives $48.58 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-three research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation, fifteen have assigned a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $48.58.

BAC has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Citigroup upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their target price on Bank of America from $53.00 to $51.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of BAC stock opened at $47.43 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The company has a 50-day moving average of $45.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.88. Bank of America has a 1-year low of $32.35 and a 1-year high of $48.08. The firm has a market cap of $363.89 billion, a PE ratio of 14.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The company’s revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.70 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Bank of America will post 3.67 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 32.30%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of America

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Collier Financial bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Kennebec Savings Bank purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Highline Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 152.7% during the fourth quarter. Highline Wealth Partners LLC now owns 844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

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.