Bank of America shares close higher on Tuesday, lender to discontinue joint venture with First Data Corp

Bank of America Corp (BAC) said earlier this week that it intended to discontinue its electronic payment services joint venture with First Data Corp in June 2020. The announcement came just hours after US financial technology provider Fiserv Inc finalized its acquisition of First Data Corp.

Fiserv had announced plans to acquire First Data Corp earlier in 2019, in an all-stock deal estimated at $22 billion.

Bank of America shares closed higher for the seventh time in the past twelve trading sessions in New York on Tuesday. The stock went up 1.21% ($0.37) to $30.89, after touching an intraday high at $30.90, or a price level not seen since July 26th ($30.99).

Shares of Bank of America Corporation have risen 25.37% so far in 2019 compared with a 20.20% gain for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2018, Bank of America’s stock went down 16.53%, thus, it underperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 6.24% loss.

Termination of the decade-long tie-up with First Data Corp is expected to result in a non-cash, pretax impairment charge of between $1.7 billion and $2.1 billion during the third quarter of this year, Bank of America Corp said.

Bank of America also said it expected the charge to trim its common equity tier 1 ratio by 9 to 11 basis points (0.09% to 0.11%).

Analyst stock price forecast and recommendation

According to CNN Money, the 27 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Bank of America Corp’s stock price, have a median target of $33.00, with a high estimate of $44.00 and a low estimate of $28.00. The median estimate represents a 6.83% upside compared to the closing price of $30.89 on July 30th.

The same media also reported that at least 14 out of 29 surveyed investment analysts had rated Bank of America Corp’s stock as “Buy”, while 13 – as “Hold”.