Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Upgraded to Buy at Citigroup

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) was upgraded by equities researchers at Citigroup from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm currently has a $54.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their prior target price of $46.00. Citigroup’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 20.62% from the stock’s current price.

BAC has been the subject of several other research reports. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Bank of America from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Cfra restated a “sell” rating and issued a $39.00 price objective on shares of Bank of America in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.69.

Bank of America Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE:BAC opened at $44.77 on Friday. Bank of America has a 12 month low of $27.34 and a 12 month high of $45.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a market capitalization of $343.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.28, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.32. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.96.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $25.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.25 billion. Bank of America had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 10.09%. The company’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Bank of America will post 3.26 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Bank of America news, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total transaction of $465,811,996.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 835,908,435 shares in the company, valued at $34,088,345,979.30. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 92,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.80, for a total value of $3,661,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 96,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,824,063.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder Berkshire Hathaway Inc sold 11,422,560 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.78, for a total transaction of $465,811,996.80. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 835,908,435 shares in the company, valued at $34,088,345,979.30. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 113,067,817 shares of company stock worth $4,548,518,070 over the last ninety days. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Bank of America

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BAC. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 644,460,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,437,936,000 after acquiring an additional 36,124,363 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension AB lifted its stake in Bank of America by 959.6% during the second quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 9,327,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $370,948,000 after buying an additional 8,447,091 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Bank of America during the first quarter valued at about $261,923,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Bank of America by 1,432.1% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 6,151,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $244,627,000 after buying an additional 5,749,567 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its stake in Bank of America by 290.7% during the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 7,114,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $269,763,000 after buying an additional 5,293,000 shares in the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is 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.