Brokerages Set Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) PT at $44.26

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-three brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $44.26.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on BAC. Phillip Securities raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total transaction of $369,952,591.90. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 766,305,462 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,606,297,408.10. This trade represents a 1.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. This trade represents a 48.91 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 85,119,690 shares of company stock worth $3,438,777,236. 0.29% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of America

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,546,871,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700,141 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,288,347,000 after acquiring an additional 895,884 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,215,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,794,164,000 after acquiring an additional 1,731,003 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 22,341,213 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $886,499,000 after acquiring an additional 601,211 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 0.4% during the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,042,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $676,264,000 after purchasing an additional 59,853 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of BAC opened at $47.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. Bank of America has a one year low of $29.32 and a one year high of $47.22. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $42.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.69. The company has a market capitalization of $360.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.32.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.90 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bank of America will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.26 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.82%.

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.