Brokerages Set Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) Target Price at $57.86

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-eight research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $57.8636.

BAC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $58.00 target price (up previously from $57.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Argus raised their price target on Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 6th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of America

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quaker Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Bank of America by 246.5% during the 2nd quarter. Quaker Wealth Management LLC now owns 523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 880 shares in the last quarter. Nova Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Bank of America by 75.2% in the 2nd quarter. Nova Wealth Management Inc. now owns 529 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 227 shares during the period. Steph & Co. grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 224.3% during the third quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 379 shares in the last quarter. Collier Financial purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, RMG Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Bank of America in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $53.60 on Friday. Bank of America has a fifty-two week low of $33.06 and a fifty-two week high of $53.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $391.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.60, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.34. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $51.45 and a 200 day moving average of $47.83.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $28.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.05 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.76% and a net margin of 15.70%.The company’s revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.81 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Bank of America will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

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

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.