Bank of America Downgradepalooza Continues

Bank of America story updated to include reduced target price from Evercore.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Bank of America (BAC) saw another analyst reduce his target price early Friday, the latest in a slew of analytical negativity around the embattled bank.

Shares were higher Wednesday

The latest to lower his target price is Evercore Partners' Andrew Marquardt, who dropped it to 12 from 14 while maintaining an overweight on Friday. Marquardt, who also reduced estimates on several other banks in the same note, cited the impact from prolonged low rates and slightly weaker loan growth.

On Wednesday, Credit Suisse analyst Moshe Orenbuch maintained his "outperform" rating, but reduced his target price to $14 from $17. Orenbuch's lower target price follows closely on the heels of one by Atlantic Equities analyst Richard Staite, who dropped his target price to $9 from $13.5 on Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday, Stifel Nicolaus lowered its 2011 earnings estimates by a penny to a loss of 31 cents per share, while dropping its 2012 estimates by 10.4% to $1.12 on the expectation lower interest rates will negatively impact the bank's net interest margins.

Morgan Stanley analyst Betsy Graseck got in on the Bank of America bashing on Friday, when she dropped her target price to $15 from $17, while cutting 2011 earnings estimates by 7% and 2012 estimates by 16%.

Graseck's price cut on Bank of America was part of a series of downward revisions she made on large cap banks in a report published Friday due to "increased probability of double-dip recession and outlook for rates to remain at historic lows through at least mid-2013," she wrote in her report.

Analysts taking the axe to Bank of America on Thursday included Goldman Sachs Richard Ramsden, who retained a "buy" rating, but dropped his target to $10 from $13.

Also revising his target lower was Marty Mosby of Guggenheim Securities. Mosby dropped his target to $11 from $15, while also retaining a "buy."

Ed Najarian of ISI Group also got in on the negativity, lowering his price target to $9 from $12 which retaining his "hold," rating.

A downgrade Aug. 9 came from Independent Research GmbH analyst Stefan Bongardt, who lowered his recommendation to "sell" from "hold," while dropping his target price to $6.25 from $10.50. A call to Bongardt was not returned and a copy of his report could not be obtained.

Bongardt's downgrade follows a cut on Monday from CLSA analyst Mike Mayo, the analyst's second downgrade for Bank of America in the less than a month. Mayo cut his target price to $8 from $11. On Friday, Bank of America was downgraded by equity analysts from Standard & Poor's and Wells Fargo. Standard & Poor's analyst Erik Oja cut his target price to $10 from $13, while Wells Fargo analyst Matt Burnell listed a "valuation range," of $9.50-$11.50 for Bank of America shares.

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