Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Upgraded at Robert W. Baird

Key Points

• Robert W. Baird upgraded Bank of America from “neutral” to “outperform” and set a $62 price target, implying approximately 20.5% upside from the reported share price.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive: 20 analysts rate BAC a Buy and six rate it a Hold, producing a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $62.96.
• Bank of America’s latest quarterly results slightly missed expectations, with $1.08 in EPS versus $1.10 forecast and $29.96 billion in revenue versus $30.58 billion expected, although revenue increased 3.2% year over year.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Robert W. Baird from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note issued on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $62.00 price target on the financial services provider's stock. Robert W. Baird's price target suggests a potential upside of 20.50% from the stock's current price.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $65.00 to $62.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Bank of America from $75.00 to $70.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Bank of America from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Evercore set a $62.00 price target on Bank of America in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $62.96.

Bank of America Stock Performance

NYSE:BAC traded up $0.06 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $51.45. 9,572,520 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 37,440,840. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $59.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $56.69. Bank of America has a 12 month low of $46.12 and a 12 month high of $65.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $359.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.10 by ($0.02). Bank of America had a net margin of 17.56% and a return on equity of 12.20%. The firm had revenue of $29.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.58 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.06 EPS. The company's revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Bank of America will post 4.60 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of America

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BAC. Turim 21 Investimentos Ltda. purchased a new position in Bank of America during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 167.6% in the second quarter. Cherry Tree Wealth Management LLC now owns 479 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC raised its stake in Bank of America by 69.9% during the 2nd quarter. Principia Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 530 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 218 shares during the last quarter. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Bank of America by 199.1% in the 1st quarter. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. now owns 658 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Frazier Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Bank of America

Here are the key news stories impacting Bank of America this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Despite the selloff, Bank of America received an upgrade from Robert W. Baird to “outperform” with a $62 price target, implying meaningful potential upside. Bank of America analyst upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Keefe, Bruyette & Woods maintained an “outperform” rating, while lowering its price target to $65 from $70. The target remains well above BAC’s current level. Keefe Bruyette and Woods price target
• Positive Sentiment: Underlying businesses showed resilience: net interest income rose 8% year over year to $16.4 billion, average loans increased 6%, and Merrill Lynch’s fee-based advisory assets reached a record $1.9 trillion. Consumer banking and wealth management helped offset weaker trading activity.
• Neutral Sentiment: Bank of America ranked highly among U.S. mega-bank quantitative ratings, and all four major U.S. banks raised dividends this year. However, investors are comparing the strength of each bank’s capital cushion before assigning value to the payouts. Major banks dividend comparison
• Negative Sentiment: Third-quarter adjusted EPS was $1.08 versus the $1.10 consensus, while revenue of roughly $30.0 billion missed estimates near $30.6 billion. Investment-banking fees and sales-and-trading revenue weakened, expenses grew faster than revenue, and the provision for credit losses was $1.3 billion. BAC Q3 earnings analysis
• Negative Sentiment: The largest overhang is more than $1.2 billion in penalties for anti-money-laundering and sanctions-compliance failures, including missed reporting of more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions. The non-tax-deductible charge reduced quarterly EPS by approximately $0.17 and raised concerns about lingering remediation costs and management controls. Bank of America regulatory penalty
• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America is also hiring about 1,000 contractors to address software vulnerabilities exposed by Anthropic’s Mythos AI model. The effort, together with compliance remediation, added hundreds of millions of dollars to third-quarter costs. Investor-law firms have separately announced securities investigations, adding further reputational risk.
• Negative Sentiment: Broader conditions added pressure as hotter-than-expected inflation pushed Treasury yields higher and increased fears that interest rates may remain elevated, contributing to a wider market selloff.

Bank of America Company Profile

Bank of America Corporation NYSE: BAC is a diversified financial services company serving individual consumers, small businesses, middle-market companies and large corporations. Its principal businesses include consumer banking, wealth and investment management, commercial banking, corporate and investment banking, and sales and trading.

Through its banking and financial services businesses, the company offers deposit accounts, credit cards, mortgages, home equity products, consumer and business loans, payment services, treasury management, brokerage services and investment advice.