Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Stock Rating Upgraded by Baird R W

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) was upgraded by equities researchers at Baird R W from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Friday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on BAC. Citigroup upgraded Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Bank of America from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Bank of America from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Bank of America from $50.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Bank of America presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.64.

Bank of America Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BAC opened at $41.39 on Friday. 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 market cap of $314.72 billion, a PE ratio of 12.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.68.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.77 by $0.05. The company 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%. Bank of America’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.70 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Bank of America will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Graney & King LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Collier Financial purchased a new position in Bank of America in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Fairway Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank of America during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Vega Investment Solutions purchased a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Marshall & Sterling Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 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.