The recession turned the banks into whipping boys of Main Street, and finding many who feel sorry for the banks is no easy task. The issue that matters for your mutual funds and your retirement accounts is that Wall Street was also punishing the banks to the point that only serious value investors would dare hang their hat out to buy their stocks religiously. The banks and brokers are Wall Street, and Wall Street would only value these major banks and investment banks (the Too Big To Fail crowd) at deep discounts to their book value per share.

Today’s dilemma for any new investors and value investors alike is that these major banks and investment banks are no longer at significant discounts to book value. In fact, many of the banks are actually up to where they are trading at premiums to their book values. This is a development which took place only lately in most cases.

We have taken a look at the top six institutions here and added color on each. The consensus analyst price targets are brought by Thomson Reuters, and we have made notes about dividends and buybacks as well.

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) put its most recent stated book value at $20.18 per share, and its tangible book value is down at $13.32. The tangible book value was down 4-cents in a quarter and the stated book value was down by one-cent in the quarter. Even after all of the lawsuits tied to mortgages and foreclosures, Bank of America shares now trade at $14.73 and that is after a 1.4% drop on Wednesday. As a reminder, BofA is still not able to fully deploy its own funds for buybacks and dividends as it would like. In fact, BofA still only yields 0.3% and its 52-week range is $7.01 to $15.03. We would also point out that on top of a premium to its tangible book value that the consensus analyst price target is lower than the current share price at $14.53.

Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) now has a stated book value of $63.02 per share and a tangible book value of $53.10 per share. Citigroup shares trade at a discount to both book value metrics at $52.41 but it is also in the boat that it cannot use funds as it would like for dividends and buybacks. Its yield is only 0.1% and its 52-week range is $25.46 to $53.56. The consensus price target is $58.09 for Citi’s shares.

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) now has a stated book value of $151.21 per share and a tangible book value of $141.62 per share. Goldman Sachs remains an attacked institution as the “golden slacks” rich boys club. Its stock trades at $165.05 and its dividend is only about 1.2% here. Goldman Sachs has traded in a range of $94.85 to $168.20 and the consensus analyst price target is under the current share price at $162.29.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) now has a stated book value of $52.54 per share and a tangible book value of $40.04 per share. The issue of the London Whale and the Jamie Dimon Chairman and CEO role breakup are now almost never brought up. The problem for the value crowd is that the stock is at $56.51 and share shit a new multi-year high at $56.93 today (range is $34.76 to 56.93 over last year). JPMorgan yields 2.7% and the consensus analyst price target is $60.93.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) gave its most recent stated book value as $31.48 per share and its tangible book value per share of $26.27. Its tangible book value reflected a reduction of $1.49 per share related to the increased 35% ownership interest in the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Joint Venture. Morgan Stanley is down 0.6% at $27.65 on Wednesday and shares hit a year high with a new 52-week range of $12.67 to $27.98. Its dividend is only 0.7% and analysts see about $1 upside to $28.74.

Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) now has a stated book value of $28.26 per share, and it offers no formal tangible book value per share in its earnings. This book value actually fell in the last quarter and the $44.37 price after a 0.4% drop compares to a 52-week range of $31.25 to $44.79. Wells Fargo remains the safest bank in America for depositors in 2013. Its dividend yield is 2.7%, but we would point out that the consensus analyst price target is $44.85 here.

It used to be that the major banks traded at real premiums to their book values. That was before the recession, before the notion of systemic risk, and also long before there was a real threat of their earnings power being limited due to regulation over trading and investment banking contributions on top of merely acting as a bank for depositors and borrowers.

It is a bull market and the stock market is at new highs, but where have all the value opportunities gone?

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