Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $25.27 and last traded at $24.97, with a volume of 451226 shares. The stock had previously closed at $24.65.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BSAC. StockNews.com cut Banco Santander-Chile from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America cut Banco Santander-Chile from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $24.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.33.

Banco Santander-Chile Trading Down 0.4%

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.18. The stock has a market cap of $11.82 billion, a PE ratio of 12.93, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.70.

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

Banco Santander-Chile Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 23rd were issued a $1.349 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 23rd. This represents a dividend yield of 4.8%. This is a boost from Banco Santander-Chile’s previous annual dividend of $1.25. Banco Santander-Chile’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.23%.

Institutional Trading of Banco Santander-Chile

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 42.6% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 126,092 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,378,000 after purchasing an additional 37,660 shares during the last quarter. Sava Infond d.o.o. bought a new position in shares of Banco Santander-Chile during the 4th quarter valued at about $245,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,988,659 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $75,226,000 after purchasing an additional 61,242 shares during the last quarter. DnB Asset Management AS increased its position in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 16.0% during the 4th quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 307,359 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,797,000 after purchasing an additional 42,371 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Banco Santander-Chile during the 4th quarter valued at about $817,000. Hedge funds and other 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.