Wall Street Zen Upgrades Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) to Hold

Key Points

• Bank of America has been upgraded from a "sell" to a "hold" rating by Wall Street Zen, indicating a more favorable outlook for the stock.
• Numerous analysts have raised their target prices for BAC, with Goldman Sachs setting it at $59.00, reflecting growing confidence in the company's performance.
• Bank of America announced a $40 billion stock buyback program, suggesting that the company believes its stock is currently undervalued.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued on Sunday.

BAC has been the subject of a number of other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $56.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Daiwa Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Phillip Securities lowered shares of Bank of America from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Twenty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $57.29.

Bank of America Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $51.28 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $379.83 billion, a PE ratio of 13.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America has a 1 year low of $33.06 and a 1 year high of $52.88. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $50.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.82. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $28.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.05 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 15.70% and a return on equity of 10.76%. The business's revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.81 EPS. Analysts expect that Bank of America will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, July 23rd that allows the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 11.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In related news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.57, for a total value of $6,762,177.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 223,407 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,180,656.99. This represents a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in 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 worth $6,982,863,000 after purchasing an additional 403,652 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Bank of America in the second quarter worth about $5,091,641,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Bank of America by 1.3% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 60,417,407 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,521,218,000 after buying an additional 803,570 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Bank of America by 5.2% during the second quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 51,405,673 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,432,516,000 after buying an additional 2,557,943 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in Bank of America by 45.1% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 48,112,090 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,007,718,000 after buying an additional 14,960,086 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.

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