Citigroup Upgrades Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) to “Buy”

Citigroup upgraded shares of Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Friday, Marketbeat reports. Citigroup currently has $54.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $46.00.

BAC has been the topic of several other research reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.69.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC traded up $0.36 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $45.13. 38,331,814 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 36,782,108. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $40.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.04. The stock has a market cap of $346.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.41, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.32. Bank of America has a one year low of $27.34 and a one year high of $45.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $25.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. Bank of America’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Bank of America will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.82%.

Bank of America declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, July 24th that allows the company to repurchase $25.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 7.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,035,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.65, for a total value of $199,638,463.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 928,460,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,813,476,231.35. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 5,035,018 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.65, for a total value of $199,638,463.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 928,460,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $36,813,476,231.35. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total transaction of $3,661,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,824,063.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 113,067,817 shares of company stock valued at $4,548,518,070. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Quent Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 29,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,129,000 after acquiring an additional 1,037 shares during the last quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 26,245 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $995,000 after acquiring an additional 679 shares during the last quarter. WealthPLAN Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 161.7% during the 1st quarter. WealthPLAN Partners LLC now owns 28,109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,066,000 after acquiring an additional 17,370 shares during the last quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 20,411 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $774,000 after acquiring an additional 1,065 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 19.6% during the 1st quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 106,703 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,046,000 after acquiring an additional 17,496 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.