Piper Sandler Raises Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Price Target to $50.00

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) had its price target upped by Piper Sandler from $44.00 to $50.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has a neutral rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also commented on BAC. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Citigroup raised Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on Bank of America from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.57.

Bank of America Stock Performance

Bank of America stock opened at $47.01 on Tuesday. Bank of America has a fifty-two week low of $30.44 and a fifty-two week high of $48.08. The company has a market capitalization of $360.70 billion, a PE ratio of 17.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $43.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Bank of America will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank of America Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.26 per share. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. Bank of America’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.82%.

Insider Activity at Bank of America

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 3,966,178 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.58, for a total transaction of $156,981,325.24. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 854,214,328 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,809,803,102.24. This represents a 0.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 56,945,263 shares of company stock worth $2,300,620,438. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Bank of America by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 140,255,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,546,871,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700,141 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 57,539,506 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,288,347,000 after purchasing an additional 895,884 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Bank of America by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,215,832 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,794,164,000 after buying an additional 1,731,003 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Bank of America by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 22,341,213 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $886,499,000 after buying an additional 601,211 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Bank of America by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 17,042,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $676,264,000 after buying an additional 59,853 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Bank of America

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.