Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Tuesday.

Separately, Bank of America lowered shares of Banco Santander-Chile from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $24.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.33.

Banco Santander-Chile Trading Up 1.4%

BSAC opened at $24.65 on Tuesday. Banco Santander-Chile has a 52 week low of $18.19 and a 52 week high of $24.94. The company has a market capitalization of $11.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.71, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $23.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.70.

Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The bank reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $767.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $717.38 billion. Banco Santander-Chile had a return on equity of 19.15% and a net margin of 19.16%. Analysts forecast that Banco Santander-Chile will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Banco Santander-Chile Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 23rd were given a $1.349 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 4.8%. This is a positive change from Banco Santander-Chile’s previous annual dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 23rd. Banco Santander-Chile’s payout ratio is presently 43.23%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Banco Santander-Chile

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its holdings in Banco Santander-Chile by 54,450.0% in the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,091 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 601.6% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,810 shares of the bank’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 1,552 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 41.3% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 3,089 shares of the bank’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 903 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Banco Santander-Chile during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Banco Santander-Chile by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 7,897 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $149,000 after acquiring an additional 863 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 6.42% of the company’s stock.

Banco Santander-Chile Company Profile

Banco Santander-Chile, together with its subsidiaries, provides commercial and retail banking services in Chile. It operates through Retail Banking, Middle-Market, Corporate Investment Banking, and Corporate Activities segments. The company offers debit and credit cards, checking accounts, and savings products; consumer, automobile, commercial, mortgage, and government-guaranteed loans; and Chilean peso and foreign currency-denominated loans to finance various commercial transactions, trade, foreign currency forward contracts, and credit lines, as well as mortgage financing services.