Bank of America Corporation (BAC: sentiment, chart, options) has plunged 64% during the past 52 weeks. Despite its lackluster performance, the stock was awarded an upgrade today. Fox-Pitt lifted the shares from "in line" to "outperform," but slashed its price target from $29 to $23. Also, Deutsche Bank cut the equity's price target from $26 to $17 and said that it expects a 2009 loss of $1.00 per share.

BAC has bounced between negative and positive territory for most of the day. It has found support in the 12-14 area recently. This region has contained the equity since the end of November. Trouble could be due for the stock, as its descending 10-week moving average is looming overhead. This trendline could pressure the shares lower in the near term.

In contrast to the security's technical performance, short-term option players are optimistically aligned. The stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.64 indicates that calls outnumber puts among options slated to expire within 3 months. Furthermore, this ratio ranks lower than 95% of all similar readings taken during the past year, meaning that near-term option players have been more bullishly aligned just 5% of the time.

Additionally, while brokerage firms are slightly bearish, there is still plenty of room for more downgrades. According to Zacks, 7 analysts rate the shares "buy" or better, while 7 recommend "hold" and only 3 suggest "strong sell." If the stock is unable to make progress on the charts, it may come under additional fire from the bullish brokerage firms or the 7 which currently rate the shares "hold," thereby pressuring BAC lower.