Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Upgraded to “Buy” at HSBC

HSBC upgraded shares of Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $50.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $43.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Bank of America from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $48.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Bank of America from $57.00 to $54.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, fifteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.50.

Bank of America Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $46.10 on Tuesday. Bank of America has a 1 year low of $31.27 and a 1 year high of $48.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a 50-day moving average of $45.30 and a 200 day moving average of $42.09. The firm has a market cap of $353.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.76, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of America will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.26 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. The trade was a 1.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of America

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 31,021.6% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 10,207,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $405,049,000 after purchasing an additional 10,175,100 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 1,432.1% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,151,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $244,627,000 after buying an additional 5,749,567 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its stake in Bank of America by 193.4% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 7,608,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $301,898,000 after buying an additional 5,015,378 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Bank of America by 3,550.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,547,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,804,560,000 after acquiring an additional 4,423,215 shares during the period. Finally, D1 Capital Partners L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the third quarter valued at about $174,858,000. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

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.