Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria S.A. (NYSE:BBVA) Short Interest Update

Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria S.A. (NYSE:BBVA) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 1,702,105 shares, a decrease of 16.0% from the March 15th total of 2,026,265 shares. Approximately 0.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,358,047 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.7 days.

Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria Trading Up 3.7%

BBVA stock traded up $0.84 during trading on Friday, reaching $23.81. The stock had a trading volume of 1,023,553 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,022,677. Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria has a 52 week low of $13.24 and a 52 week high of $26.20. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $22.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.08. The firm has a market cap of $137.24 billion, a PE ratio of 12.09, a PEG ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.86.

Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria (NYSE:BBVA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The bank reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria had a return on equity of 17.29% and a net margin of 28.43%.The company had revenue of $11.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.74 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $0.7084 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a yield of 626.0%. Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.38%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on BBVA. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. Zacks Research lowered Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Barclays downgraded Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold”.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria by 28.0% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,288,196 shares of the bank’s stock worth $142,760,000 after buying an additional 2,034,318 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria by 0.6% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,616,619 shares of the bank’s stock worth $125,914,000 after buying an additional 40,320 shares during the period. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria by 2.0% in the third quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 5,755,246 shares of the bank’s stock worth $110,788,000 after buying an additional 113,250 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria by 6.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,846,150 shares of the bank’s stock worth $93,288,000 after buying an additional 297,752 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria by 1,819.7% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,616,734 shares of the bank’s stock worth $84,306,000 after buying an additional 3,428,336 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 2.96% of the company’s stock.

About Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (NYSE:BBVA) is a Spanish multinational financial services group headquartered in Bilbao, Spain. The bank traces its roots to several historic regional banks and was formed through a series of mergers that consolidated its position as one of Spain’s largest banking groups. BBVA operates as a universal bank offering a broad range of financial services to retail, corporate and institutional clients.

BBVA’s core businesses include retail and commercial banking, corporate and investment banking, private banking and wealth management, asset management, and insurance.