Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $62.20 and last traded at $62.1510, with a volume of 10079596 shares. The stock had previously closed at $61.28.

Bank of America News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Bank of America this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America raised its quarterly common stock dividend by 14% to $0.32 per share, signaling confidence in its capital position and a commitment to returning excess capital to shareholders. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: The company reiterated the dividend increase in multiple announcements, reinforcing the message that earnings and capital levels remain strong enough to support higher payouts. PR Newswire article
• Positive Sentiment: The dividend hike may help attract income-focused investors and can be interpreted as a management signal of confidence in Bank of America’s financial health and future cash generation. Yahoo Finance article
• Neutral Sentiment: Separately, a headline about Bank of America’s “sell signal” for stocks being at its highest level since 2021 reflects a market-timing indicator, but it is not specific to BAC’s own fundamentals. Business Insider article
• Neutral Sentiment: Other articles mention Bank of America research on other companies and broader market themes, which may affect sentiment around the bank but do not directly change BAC’s earnings outlook. TipRanks article

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Bank of America from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Bank of America from $61.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Evercore set a $63.00 price objective on Bank of America and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Oppenheimer downgraded Bank of America from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Bank of America in a report on Tuesday. Twenty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Bank of America presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.77.

Bank of America Trading Up 1.3%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market cap of $440.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.23, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.17. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $56.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $53.29.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.08. Bank of America had a return on equity of 12.20% and a net margin of 17.56%.The company had revenue of $8.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.78 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.89 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Bank of America Corporation will post 4.65 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Geoffrey S. Greener sold 126,756 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 1,373,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,803,774.97. The trade was a 8.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank of America

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BAC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Bank of America by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 651,076,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,809,225,000 after acquiring an additional 23,351,183 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Bank of America in the fourth quarter valued at $4,774,210,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Bank of America by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 57,619,317 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,169,062,000 after purchasing an additional 2,929,779 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Bank of America by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 53,783,821 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,958,110,000 after purchasing an additional 1,105,833 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in Bank of America by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 47,172,503 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,594,488,000 after purchasing an additional 2,611,776 shares during the last quarter. 70.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.