Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $41.91, but opened at $43.23. Bank of America shares last traded at $42.81, with a volume of 11,394,123 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BAC has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Bank of America from $49.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Cfra reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $39.00 price target on shares of Bank of America in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler Companies raised shares of Bank of America from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $37.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.27.

Bank of America Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $332.99 billion, a PE ratio of 14.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.30.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.81. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The firm’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Bank of America Co. will post 3.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.24. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.99%.

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

Insider Transactions at Bank of America

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 4,002,225 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.14, for a total value of $160,649,311.50. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 776,614,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,173,306,471.54. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 4,002,225 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.14, for a total value of $160,649,311.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 776,614,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,173,306,471.54. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Lindsay D. Hans sold 10,901 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.91, for a total value of $402,355.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 10,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $402,577.37. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 160,921,082 shares of company stock worth $6,582,343,525. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Bank of America

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BAC. American National Bank & Trust Co. VA purchased a new position in Bank of America during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,322,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $3,734,000 after purchasing an additional 20,916 shares in the last quarter. Foster Group Inc. increased its holdings in Bank of America by 19.4% during the first quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 8,977 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $340,000 after buying an additional 1,457 shares during the period. Councilmark Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Bank of America in the first quarter worth approximately $771,000. Finally, SteelPeak Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Bank of America by 37.7% during the second quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 54,393 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,163,000 after buying an additional 14,901 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently 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.