Analysts Hack Bank of America's Target Price

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Bank of America(BAC) suffered reduced target prices from four analysts in the wake of its fourth-quarter earnings report Thursday, while two analysts raised their targets, according to data from Bloomberg.

The biggest cut came from Jeffrey Harte of Sandler O'Neill, who reduced his target to $11 from $14 while maintaining a "buy" rating in a report published Friday.

Sounding a familiar theme among analysts covering the stock, Harte praised the bank's efforts to strengthen its balance sheet but argued the inevitable effect would be reduced earnings power. Harte reduced his 2012 earnings estimates to 77 cents per share from 90 cents.

Also reducing their targets were Todd Hagerman of Sterne Agee, who went to $6 from $7 while maintaining a "neutral" outlook on the stock, Barclays Capital's Jason Goldberg, who went to $10 from $11 while maintaining an "equal weight" rating, and CLSA'S Mike Mayo, who dropped his target to $6 from $7 while maintaining an "underperform" rating.

Turning slightly more bullish were Nomura Securities Glenn Schorr, who remained neutral but lifted his target to $8 from $7 and Stefan Bongardt of Independent Research, who upped his target a quarter to $6.50 from $6.25 while maintaining a "sell" on the shares.

Schorr's note sounded almost identical to Harte's: stronger balance sheet but reduced earnings power. He also reduced his 2012 earnings projections--to 75 cents from $1.00 per share.

Despite the analyst bearishness, Bank of America shares continued their recent strength on Monday morning. Less than an hour after the open, they were up 3.54% to $7.32. Shares of Citigroup(C) and JPMorgan Chase(JPM) were also higher.

-- Written by Dan Freed in New York. Follow this writer on Twitter.

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