Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-three ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation, fifteen have assigned a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $48.58.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on BAC shares. Hsbc Global Res raised 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 objective on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of America

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA now owns 20,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $879,000 after buying an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Prossimo Advisors LLC increased its position in Bank of America by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Prossimo Advisors LLC now owns 8,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $390,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the period. Marino Stram & Associates LLC raised its stake in Bank of America by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Marino Stram & Associates LLC now owns 13,204 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $580,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 8,291 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $364,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the period. Finally, Traveka Wealth LLC grew its position in Bank of America by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Traveka Wealth LLC now owns 8,685 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $382,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $47.43 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $45.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.92. The stock has a market cap of $363.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.73, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Bank of America has a one year low of $32.35 and a one year high of $48.08.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 quarterly revenue was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.70 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Bank of America will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 32.30%.

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.