Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Shares Up 1.7%

Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) shot up 1.7% on Friday . The company traded as high as $39.90 and last traded at $39.90. 8,749,979 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 38,991,590 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.24.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BAC has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Bank of America from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $39.50 to $40.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $48.00 price target (up previously from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.07.

Bank of America Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $310.31 billion, a PE ratio of 13.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.35. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.04. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. The business had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.22 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a $0.26 dividend. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 35.99%.

Bank of America announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,035,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.65, for a total value of $199,638,463.70. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 928,460,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,813,476,231.35. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,035,018 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.65, for a total transaction of $199,638,463.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 928,460,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,813,476,231.35. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 66,768,513 shares of company stock valued at $2,807,216,504. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Bank of America during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Bank of America by 402.2% during the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 547 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 839.0% in the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 646 shares during the last quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the second quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.