Morgan Stanley Downgrades Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) to Equal Weight

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) was downgraded by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report issued on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $55.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $48.00. Morgan Stanley’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 20.17% from the company’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Barclays lifted their target price on Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Phillip Securities raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “accumulate” rating and set a $44.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Bank of America in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Bank of America from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Bank of America has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.92.

Bank of America Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of BAC opened at $45.77 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $43.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $351.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.33. Bank of America has a 1-year low of $30.45 and a 1-year high of $48.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.03. Bank of America had a return on equity of 10.09% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Bank of America will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 8,694,538 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.55, for a total transaction of $369,952,591.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 766,305,462 shares in the company, valued at $32,606,297,408.10. The trade was a 1.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 55,223,897 shares of company stock worth $2,232,505,985. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Copley Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America during the third quarter worth approximately $550,000. Fidelity D & D Bancorp Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the third quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Bush Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the third quarter valued at approximately $239,000. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,670,000. Finally, Old North State Trust LLC bought a new stake in shares of Bank of America during the third quarter valued at approximately $202,000. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.