Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Trading Down 1.1% After Analyst Downgrade

Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) shares were down 1.1% during trading on Tuesday after StockNews.com downgraded the stock from a hold rating to a sell rating. The company traded as low as $38.94 and last traded at $39.24. Approximately 6,940,153 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 39,132,074 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.68.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Barclays raised their price target on Bank of America from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 target price (up from $46.00) on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Cfra reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $39.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.27.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 1,722,523 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.40, for a total transaction of $67,867,406.20. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 794,120,913 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,288,363,972.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total transaction of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,824,063.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 1,722,523 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 794,120,913 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,288,363,972.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 147,650,481 shares of company stock valued at $6,050,547,676. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of America

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Barometer Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,175,000. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,601,000. American National Bank & Trust Co. VA acquired a new stake in Bank of America during the 1st quarter valued at $1,322,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its position in Bank of America by 27.1% during the first quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 98,189 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,734,000 after buying an additional 20,916 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Foster Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 19.4% in the first quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 8,977 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $340,000 after acquiring an additional 1,457 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Bank of America Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $306.79 billion, a PE ratio of 13.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $39.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $39.09.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released 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. The company had revenue of $25.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.22 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Bank of America Co. will post 3.28 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a $0.26 dividend. This is a boost from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is presently 35.99%.

Bank of America declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.