Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.02 EPS

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) posted its earnings results on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.10 by ($0.02), FiscalAI reports. The firm had revenue of $29.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.58 billion. Bank of America had a return on equity of 12.20% and a net margin of 17.56%. Bank of America’s revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.06 EPS.

Here are the key takeaways from Bank of America’s conference call:

• Regulatory settlement: Bank of America recorded a $1.2 billion non-tax-deductible settlement charge related to AML and compliance matters, reducing reported third-quarter EPS by $0.17. Management said remediation costs are already embedded in the expense base and the regulatory matter is now resolved.
• Strong core banking momentum: Excluding the settlement, net income was approximately $8.1 billion, or $1.08 per share. Loans grew for the tenth consecutive quarter, deposits exceeded $2 trillion, and management expects net interest income to rise about 8% or more in 2027.
• Healthy client activity and credit quality: Consumer spending increased 5% year over year, commercial loans rose 8%, wealth-management flows remained strong, and card balances grew nearly 5%. The net charge-off ratio improved to 44 basis points, while consumer delinquencies and commercial criticized assets declined.
• Markets and investment banking were weaker: Sales and trading revenue declined 5% year over year, with FICC revenue down 17% as higher interest rates reduced activity in credit, mortgages, and municipals. Investment-banking revenue also fell from a strong prior-year comparison, although management cited healthy pipelines.
• Capital and efficiency outlook: CET1 declined to 10.9% after loan growth, the settlement charge, and higher rates, but remained above regulatory minimums; the bank returned $8.3 billion to shareholders. Management expects operating leverage to resume in the fourth quarter and continues to target 200–300 basis points of medium-term improvement.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Shares of BAC opened at $51.40 on Thursday. Bank of America Corporation has a 1 year low of $46.12 and a 1 year high of $65.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.83. The company’s fifty day moving average is $59.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $359.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.21.

Bank of America Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 4th were given a dividend of $0.32 per share. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 4th. This is a positive change from Bank of America’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. Bank of America’s payout ratio is 29.36%.

Key Stories Impacting Bank of America

Here are the key news stories impacting Bank of America this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Underlying banking trends were solid: net interest income rose 8% year over year to $16.4 billion, average loans increased 6% to $1.23 trillion, and deposits grew 2% to $2.02 trillion. Global wealth and investment management revenue also increased 13%. Bank of America Reports Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America returned $8.3 billion to shareholders during the quarter through $2.2 billion of dividends and $6.0 billion of share repurchases, which may support the stock’s valuation after the selloff. Bank of America Reports $6.9 Billion Third-Quarter Net Income
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Brian Moynihan said the company has accountability for the compliance failures and expects remediation costs to decline over time. BAC also hired roughly 1,000 contractors to address software vulnerabilities identified by Anthropic’s Mythos AI model, adding to near-term expenses but potentially reducing operational risk. Bank of America hired 1,000 contractors to patch software flaws
• Negative Sentiment: U.S. regulators imposed more than $1.2 billion in penalties over anti-money-laundering and sanctions-control failures, including a failure to timely report more than $5 billion in suspicious transactions. The non-tax-deductible charge reduced quarterly earnings by approximately $0.17 per share and raises concerns about ongoing compliance costs. Bank of America profit hurt by $1.2 billion fine
• Negative Sentiment: Adjusted EPS was $1.08 versus the $1.10 consensus, while revenue of roughly $30.0 billion missed estimates near $30.6 billion. Reported net income fell 17% year over year to $6.9 billion, and weaker investment-banking and trading revenue, higher expenses, and a $1.3 billion provision for credit losses compounded the disappointment. BAC Q3 Earnings Miss
• Negative Sentiment: Several law firms announced shareholder investigations following the regulatory disclosures, creating an additional headline and potential litigation risk, although no claims have been established. Securities Fraud Investigation Into Bank of America

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore set a $62.00 price objective on Bank of America in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Truist Financial reduced their price target on Bank of America from $65.00 to $62.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. Oppenheimer cut Bank of America from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Bank of America from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $64.22.

Bank of America Company Profile

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) is a diversified financial services company serving individual consumers, small businesses, middle-market companies and large corporations. Its principal businesses include consumer banking, wealth and investment management, commercial banking, corporate and investment banking, and sales and trading.

Through its banking and financial services businesses, the company offers deposit accounts, credit cards, mortgages, home equity products, consumer and business loans, payment services, treasury management, brokerage services and investment advice.