Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Trading Up 0.4% – Should You Buy?

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC)’s share price rose 0.4% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $43.06 and last traded at $43.01. Approximately 7,422,238 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 35,729,078 shares. The stock had previously closed at $42.82.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on BAC. HSBC raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.45.

Bank of America Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $44.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.86. The company has a market cap of $323.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.70 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 32.30%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Collier Financial bought a new stake in Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Life Planning Partners Inc boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 3,883.2% during the 4th quarter. Life Planning Partners Inc now owns 559,995 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 545,936 shares in the last quarter. Graney & King LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new position in Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Vega Investment Solutions purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. 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.