Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $39.79.

BAC has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Wolfe Research raised Bank of America from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Bank of America from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $37.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 price target (up previously from $39.00) on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Thursday, April 4th.

Bank of America Price Performance

Bank of America stock opened at $39.77 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $311.02 billion, a PE ratio of 13.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.36. Bank of America has a 12-month low of $24.96 and a 12-month high of $40.34. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $38.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.06. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.94%. The business had revenue of $25.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America will post 3.22 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were paid a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.22%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of America

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BAC. 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 valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares during the period. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Clearstead Trust LLC grew its holdings in Bank of America by 1,489.3% during the first quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 890 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 834 shares during the period. Finally, Fortis Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.