Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Rating Increased to Buy at UBS Group

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) was upgraded by equities research analysts at UBS Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has a $53.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $43.00. UBS Group’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 16.77% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on BAC. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Bank of America from $57.00 to $54.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.97.

Bank of America Stock Up 1.3 %

Bank of America stock opened at $45.39 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $348.27 billion, a PE ratio of 16.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America has a 12 month low of $31.27 and a 12 month high of $48.08. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.04. 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) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Bank of America will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the insider now owns 766,305,462 shares in the company, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. This represents a 1.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of America

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fairway Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Bank of America in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new stake in Bank of America during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc lifted its position in Bank of America by 525.9% during the 3rd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 1,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 852 shares during the period. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $73,000. Hedge funds and other 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.