Wells Fargo & Company Issues Positive Forecast for Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Stock Price

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) had its target price increased by Wells Fargo & Company from $52.00 to $56.00 in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on BAC. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Phillip Securities raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, October 18th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Citigroup raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.26.

Bank of America Stock Performance

BAC traded up $0.85 on Friday, hitting $46.75. 40,488,863 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 38,721,895. Bank of America has a 52 week low of $29.22 and a 52 week high of $46.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $358.71 billion, a PE ratio of 17.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.32. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $41.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.33.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. 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 return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Bank of America will post 3.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 37.82%.

Bank of America announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to buyback $25.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Bank of America

In related news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 96,082 shares in the company, valued at $3,824,063.60. This represents a 48.91 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,035,018 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.65, for a total transaction of $199,638,463.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 928,460,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,813,476,231.35. This represents a 0.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 107,883,988 shares of company stock worth $4,344,741,752. Insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Bank of America

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 839.0% in the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares during the period. Kennebec Savings Bank acquired a new position in Bank of America in the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Bank of America in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Clearstead Trust LLC boosted its stake in Bank of America by 1,489.3% in the 1st quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 890 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 834 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.71% of the company’s stock.

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.