Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Boosts Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Price Target to $50.00

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) had its price objective boosted by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $48.00 to $50.00 in a research note published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

BAC has been the topic of several other research reports. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Bank of America from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays boosted their price target on Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Piper Sandler raised Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Bank of America presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.69.

Bank of America Stock Performance

BAC opened at $42.33 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $331.04 billion, a PE ratio of 14.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. Bank of America has a 1 year low of $24.96 and a 1 year high of $44.44. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.41.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 13.28%. Bank of America’s quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bank of America will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.99%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 6,349,021 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.41, for a total transaction of $269,261,980.61. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 992,612,058 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $42,096,677,379.78. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 6,349,021 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.41, for a total value of $269,261,980.61. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 992,612,058 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,096,677,379.78. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,824,063.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 144,633,120 shares of company stock valued at $5,862,871,640 over the last 90 days. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company 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 stock. Fairway Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 402.2% in the first quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 683 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 547 shares in the last quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 646 shares in the last quarter. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the second quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the first quarter worth about $33,000. 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.