BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR) Upgraded to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday.

BBAR has been the subject of several other reports. UBS Group upped their price objective on BBVA Banco Frances from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of BBVA Banco Frances in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $18.50.

BBVA Banco Frances Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BBAR opened at $18.90 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $19.33 and a 200 day moving average of $17.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.05 and a beta of 1.00. BBVA Banco Frances has a 12-month low of $7.76 and a 12-month high of $22.47.

BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR) last announced its earnings results on Friday, May 15th. The bank reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $822.07 million during the quarter. BBVA Banco Frances had a net margin of 3.44% and a return on equity of 6.27%. On average, research analysts anticipate that BBVA Banco Frances will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

BBVA Banco Frances Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 12th were issued a dividend of $0.0131 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. BBVA Banco Frances’s payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

Institutional Trading of BBVA Banco Frances

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BBAR. Fourth Sail Capital LP raised its position in shares of BBVA Banco Frances by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Fourth Sail Capital LP now owns 2,847,061 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $51,446,000 after purchasing an additional 177,799 shares during the period. PointState Capital LP boosted its holdings in BBVA Banco Frances by 60.5% in the 4th quarter. PointState Capital LP now owns 2,668,038 shares of the bank’s stock worth $48,211,000 after buying an additional 1,005,978 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in BBVA Banco Frances by 9.8% in the 2nd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 2,021,521 shares of the bank’s stock worth $33,274,000 after buying an additional 180,137 shares during the period. Samlyn Capital LLC increased its stake in BBVA Banco Frances by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC now owns 1,944,429 shares of the bank’s stock worth $16,178,000 after buying an additional 120,185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aquamarine Financial Cayman Ltd raised its holdings in BBVA Banco Frances by 103.8% during the fourth quarter. Aquamarine Financial Cayman Ltd now owns 1,141,305 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $20,623,000 after acquiring an additional 581,305 shares during the period.

BBVA Banco Frances Company Profile

BBVA Banco Francés is one of Argentina’s leading financial institutions, operating as a subsidiary of the global banking group BBVA. The bank provides a full range of retail and commercial banking services to individuals, small and medium‐sized enterprises, large corporations and institutional clients. Its product suite spans deposit accounts, mortgages, personal and auto loans, credit and debit cards, transactional banking and digital solutions designed to meet the evolving needs of customers in both urban and regional markets.

Founded in Buenos Aires in the late 19th century, Banco Francés has developed a longstanding presence in Argentina’s financial sector.