Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-seven research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $61.0625.

BAC has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $62.00 to $63.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $53.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $58.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Bank of America from $58.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Autonomous Res reduced their price target on shares of Bank of America from $62.00 to $54.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 6th.

Bank of America Price Performance

BAC stock opened at $51.81 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $50.75 and a 200-day moving average of $52.36. Bank of America has a 12-month low of $42.35 and a 12-month high of $57.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The company has a market cap of $367.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.82, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.21.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.11. Bank of America had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 11.49%. The company had revenue of $30.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $29.72 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Bank of America will post 4.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank of America Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 26th. Investors of record on Friday, June 5th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 5th. Bank of America’s payout ratio is currently 27.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Geoffrey S. Greener sold 126,756 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.01, for a total transaction of $6,719,335.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,373,397 shares in the company, valued at $72,803,774.97. The trade was a 8.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Bernard A. Mensah sold 94,000 shares of Bank of America stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.94, for a total value of $4,412,360.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 170,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,988,436.96. This represents a 35.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 354,588 shares of company stock valued at $17,814,296. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BAC. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 30.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 108,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,785,000 after purchasing an additional 25,143 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Bank of America by 40.5% during the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 21,401 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,013,000 after purchasing an additional 6,174 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC grew its stake in Bank of America by 38.4% in the 2nd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 65,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,108,000 after acquiring an additional 18,227 shares during the period. Nebula Research & Development LLC purchased a new stake in Bank of America in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,396,000. Finally, Vivaldi Capital Management LP grew its stake in Bank of America by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP now owns 8,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $417,000 after acquiring an additional 355 shares during the period. 70.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Bank of America

Bank of America Corporation is a multinational financial services company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It provides a broad array of banking, investment, asset management and related financial and risk management products and services to individual consumers, small- and middle-market businesses, large corporations, governments and institutional investors. The firm operates through consumer banking, global wealth and investment management, global banking and markets businesses, offering capabilities across lending, deposits, payments, advisory and capital markets.

Its consumer-facing offerings include checking and savings accounts, mortgages, home equity lending, auto loans, credit cards and small business banking, supported by a nationwide branch network and digital channels.