Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft currently has $45.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock.

BAC has been the subject of several other reports. Piper Sandler Companies raised shares of Bank of America from an underweight rating to a neutral rating and increased their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Piper Sandler raised shares of 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 report on Tuesday, July 9th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $48.00 target price (up previously from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $42.22.

Bank of America Trading Down 3.4 %

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $38.78 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $303.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.35. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.49. Bank of America has a 1-year low of $24.96 and a 1-year high of $44.44. 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 announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.22 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.88 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Bank of America will post 3.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, July 24th that permits the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.99%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total transaction of $559,278,840.51. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,020,161,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,958,509,063.91. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 12,690,693 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.07, for a total transaction of $559,278,840.51. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,020,161,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $44,958,509,063.91. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 112,670,620 shares of company stock worth $4,651,681,930 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter worth $3,734,407,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 5.9% during the first 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 during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 360.9% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 37,290,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,255,514,000 after purchasing an additional 29,198,846 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 104,030,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,502,720,000 after purchasing an additional 9,879,524 shares during the period. Finally, AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its position in shares of Bank of America by 959.6% during the second quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 9,327,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $370,948,000 after acquiring an additional 8,447,091 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Bank of America Company Profile

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.