Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Stock Price Up 1.4% Following Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Shares of Bank of America increased by 1.4% following an upgrade from Wells Fargo, which raised its price target from $56.00 to $60.00 and maintained an overweight rating.
• The company has recently announced a dividend increase from $0.26 to $0.28 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 2.2%.
• Bank of America has received positive ratings from 16 analysts and reported $0.89 earnings per share, exceeding estimates by $0.03.

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC)'s share price traded up 1.4% on Wednesday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $56.00 to $60.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Bank of America traded as high as $51.63 and last traded at $51.36. 38,101,061 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 8% from the average session volume of 41,575,973 shares. The stock had previously closed at $50.66.

BAC has been the subject of a number of other reports. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $52.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $53.00 price objective on Bank of America and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 30th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Bank of America from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. HSBC cut Bank of America from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $47.00 to $51.00 in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Bank of America currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $50.61.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bank of America news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total transaction of $6,762,177.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 223,407 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,180,656.99. This trade represents a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.30% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of America

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 0.3% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 148,176,755 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $6,982,863,000 after purchasing an additional 403,652 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the second quarter valued at $5,091,641,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.3% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 60,417,407 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,521,218,000 after purchasing an additional 803,570 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 5.2% in the second quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 51,405,673 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,432,516,000 after purchasing an additional 2,557,943 shares during the period. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 45.1% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 48,112,090 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,007,718,000 after purchasing an additional 14,960,086 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.71% of the company's stock.

Bank of America Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $384.16 billion, a PE ratio of 15.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $48.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.40.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.03. The business had revenue of ($22,273.00) million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.79 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 14.81%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.83 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Bank of America Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 5th. This is an increase from Bank of America's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Bank of America's payout ratio is 32.75%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, July 23rd that permits the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.