Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Receives $38.70 Consensus PT from Analysts

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $38.70.

Several brokerages recently commented on BAC. Wolfe Research raised Bank of America from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on Bank of America from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $37.70 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $36.61 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.31. Bank of America has a fifty-two week low of $24.96 and a fifty-two week high of $38.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $294.83 billion, a PE ratio of 13.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.37.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.06. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.94%. The business had revenue of $25.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.49 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Bank of America will post 3.21 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.55%. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 33.22%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,734,407,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 360.9% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 37,290,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,255,514,000 after acquiring an additional 29,198,846 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 97.3% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 41,290,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,130,538,000 after purchasing an additional 20,362,295 shares during the period. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 1,071.8% in the 4th quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 14,082,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $474,150,000 after purchasing an additional 12,880,492 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Bank of America by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 104,030,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,502,720,000 after purchasing an additional 9,879,524 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by 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.