Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Trading 0.1% Higher – Time to Buy?

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) shot up 0.1% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $41.22 and last traded at $41.29. 10,446,995 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 37,153,603 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.25.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BAC has been the topic of several research reports. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Friday, March 7th. Hsbc Global Res raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Baird R W raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.45.

Bank of America Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $315.97 billion, a PE ratio of 12.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $44.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.29% and a net margin of 14.10%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.70 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 32.30%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of America

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in Bank of America by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 3,940,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $173,168,000 after buying an additional 173,021 shares in the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at about $60,679,000. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in Bank of America by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 2,028,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,150,000 after purchasing an additional 10,377 shares during the period. Keybank National Association OH boosted its position in Bank of America by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 3,458,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $152,006,000 after purchasing an additional 38,258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Bank of America by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 42,929,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,886,769,000 after purchasing an additional 297,858 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is 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.