Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

by · The Markets Daily

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on BAC. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Barclays raised their price objective 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. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective (up from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.27.

Read Our Latest Report on Bank of America

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BAC opened at $39.24 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $39.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.10. Bank of America has a one year low of $24.96 and a one year high of $44.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $306.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.58, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 EPS 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 the consensus estimate of $25.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America will post 3.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program 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 programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 1,722,523 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.40, for a total value of $67,867,406.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 794,120,913 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,288,363,972.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total transaction of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 10,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $402,577.37. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 1,722,523 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.40, for a total transaction of $67,867,406.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 794,120,913 shares in the company, valued at $31,288,363,972.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 147,650,481 shares of company stock valued at $6,050,547,676 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Bank of America

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,437,936,000 after purchasing an additional 36,124,363 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 104,030,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,502,720,000 after buying an additional 9,879,524 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Bank of America by 1.6% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,288,347,000 after acquiring an additional 895,884 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Bank of America by 0.4% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 40,354,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,530,241,000 after acquiring an additional 165,070 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 37,654,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,267,820,000 after acquiring an additional 5,488,790 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank of America Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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