Seaport Research Partners upgraded its rating on Bank of America (BAC.US) from 'Neutral' to 'Buy' according to the news app of Zhitong Finance.

In a Diversified Financials report, senior analyst Jim Mitchell stated that the team has set a target price of $48 for Bank of America, with a PE ratio of 12.5 times earnings per share in 2025, higher than the previous 10.4 times.

In addition, the analyst expects Bank of America's earnings per share growth expectations to increase from 0% in the second quarter of this year to 2% for the full year 2024, and then to 7% in 2025.

The institution stated that Bank of America's net interest income is low. In the first quarter, net interest margin was 1.99%, far below the peak of 2.53% in the first quarter of 2019. In addition, Mitchell stated that the company's hold-to-maturity investment pace is slow, hedging against uncertainty of maturity time, and asset sensitivity is higher than the average level.

But there have been some changes, including increasing the turnover rate of the entire loan account; growth brought by short-term bank revenue charges; industry-wide deposit growth; and an environment where interest rates remain high for a longer period of time. Mitchell said these factors "have given Bank of America more time to reprice assets at higher rates and restore balance sheet growth (helping to offset the possible rate cuts next year)."

So far this year, Bank of America's stock price has risen approximately 23%, to $40.93.