Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. HSBC increased their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. CICC Research assumed coverage on shares of Bank of America in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $62.00 price target on the stock. Daiwa Securities Group lowered their price objective on Bank of America from $66.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Bank of America from $68.00 to $64.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their target price on Bank of America from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Twenty-two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.30.

Bank of America Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of Bank of America stock opened at $52.53 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $54.40 and its 200 day moving average is $52.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $383.59 billion, a PE ratio of 13.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.29. Bank of America has a 1 year low of $33.06 and a 1 year high of $57.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 14th. The financial services provider reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $4.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.73 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 11.07% and a net margin of 16.23%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.82 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 6th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 29.24%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BAC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Bank of America by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 651,076,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,809,225,000 after purchasing an additional 23,351,183 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Bank of America by 0.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 148,176,755 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,982,863,000 after buying an additional 403,652 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Bank of America by 11.0% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 144,371,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,448,816,000 after buying an additional 14,275,810 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the 2nd quarter valued at $5,091,641,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Bank of America by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 57,619,317 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,169,062,000 after buying an additional 2,929,779 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Bank of America

Bank of America Corporation is a multinational financial services company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It provides a broad array of banking, investment, asset management and related financial and risk management products and services to individual consumers, small- and middle-market businesses, large corporations, governments and institutional investors. The firm operates through consumer banking, global wealth and investment management, global banking and markets businesses, offering capabilities across lending, deposits, payments, advisory and capital markets.

Its consumer-facing offerings include checking and savings accounts, mortgages, home equity lending, auto loans, credit cards and small business banking, supported by a nationwide branch network and digital channels.