Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Trading 0.7% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) were up 0.7% on Thursday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $46.00 to $50.00. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Bank of America traded as high as $37.72 and last traded at $37.58. Approximately 12,348,556 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 39,122,210 shares. The stock had previously closed at $37.33.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Bank of America from $55.00 to $52.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Baird R W upgraded Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday, March 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.20.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of America

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in Bank of America by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 3,940,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $173,168,000 after buying an additional 173,021 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth $60,679,000. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 2,028,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,150,000 after acquiring an additional 10,377 shares during the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH increased its holdings in Bank of America by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 3,458,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $152,006,000 after acquiring an additional 38,258 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Bank of America by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 42,929,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,886,769,000 after acquiring an additional 297,858 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

Bank of America Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $285.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $27.37 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $26.83 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. As a group, analysts forecast 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.30%.

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.