Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Upgraded at Ameriprise Financial

Ameriprise Financial upgraded shares of Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) to a buy rating in a research note published on Wednesday,MarketScreener reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on Bank of America from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Baird R W cut Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 27th. Hsbc Global Res cut Bank of America from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Bank of America from $51.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Twenty-three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.23.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $52.44 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.31. Bank of America has a 1-year low of $33.06 and a 1-year high of $52.88. The firm has a market cap of $388.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.33. 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) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.13. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.76% and a net margin of 15.70%.The business had revenue of $28.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.81 earnings per share. Bank of America’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Bank of America will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, July 23rd that allows the company to buyback $40.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 11.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 26th. Investors of record on Friday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 5th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 30.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider James P. Demare sold 148,391 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 223,407 shares in the company, valued at $10,180,656.99. The trade was a 39.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of America

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BAC. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Bank of America during the second quarter worth about $5,091,641,000. Deutsche Bank AG lifted 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 purchasing an additional 14,960,086 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in Bank of America by 124.8% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 17,619,837 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $833,771,000 after purchasing an additional 9,782,208 shares during the last quarter. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. bought a new stake in Bank of America during the second quarter worth about $202,439,000. Finally, Unisphere Establishment lifted its stake in Bank of America by 1,642.5% during the first quarter. Unisphere Establishment now owns 4,195,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $175,057,000 after purchasing an additional 3,954,250 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.