Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) Receives $48.45 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Bank of America Co. (NYSE:BAC) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-five ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation, sixteen have issued a buy recommendation and three have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $48.45.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on BAC shares. Baird R W raised Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $41.24 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $313.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.32. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.89. Bank of America has a fifty-two week low of $34.15 and a fifty-two week high of $48.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.12 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 14.10% and a return on equity of 10.29%. The business’s revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.70 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Bank of America will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.30%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank of America

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Bank of America by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 142,289,199 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,243,000,000 after purchasing an additional 2,033,229 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 122,437,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,381,126,000 after purchasing an additional 11,691,451 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Bank of America during the fourth quarter worth $5,226,989,000. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in Bank of America by 23.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 88,210,527 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,876,853,000 after buying an additional 17,031,143 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Bank of America by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 67,935,940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,985,785,000 after buying an additional 9,980,859 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.