Grupo Financiero Galicia Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:GGAL)

Grupo Financiero Galicia S.A. (NASDAQ:GGAL) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors acquired 9,125 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 338% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,082 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Grupo Financiero Galicia

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Grupo Financiero Galicia during the fourth quarter worth approximately $39,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd increased its stake in shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia by 4,942.9% during the third quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 2,118 shares of the bank’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 2,076 shares during the period. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in Grupo Financiero Galicia during the 4th quarter worth approximately $74,000. Leonteq Securities AG lifted its holdings in Grupo Financiero Galicia by 563.2% during the 1st quarter. Leonteq Securities AG now owns 2,036 shares of the bank’s stock worth $95,000 after purchasing an additional 1,729 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acuitas Investments LLC bought a new stake in Grupo Financiero Galicia in the 3rd quarter valued at $110,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on GGAL. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Grupo Financiero Galicia from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Grupo Financiero Galicia from $72.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.33.

Grupo Financiero Galicia Stock Performance

Grupo Financiero Galicia stock traded down $2.14 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $47.89. 459,139 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,215,295. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $48.51. Grupo Financiero Galicia has a fifty-two week low of $25.89 and a fifty-two week high of $62.51. The stock has a market cap of $7.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.09, a P/E/G ratio of 0.35 and a beta of 1.32.

Grupo Financiero Galicia (NASDAQ:GGAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 26th. The bank reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. Grupo Financiero Galicia had a net margin of 7.13% and a return on equity of 18.96%. On average, research analysts expect that Grupo Financiero Galicia will post 3.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Grupo Financiero Galicia Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a monthly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th were paid a $0.6229 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 15.6%. Grupo Financiero Galicia’s dividend payout ratio is 214.10%.

About Grupo Financiero Galicia

Grupo Financiero Galicia is a diversified financial services holding company headquartered in Buenos Aires, Argentina. As one of the country’s largest private-sector financial institutions, the company provides a comprehensive suite of banking, insurance and investment products to individual, small-to-medium enterprise (SME) and corporate clients. Its operations span retail and commercial banking, asset management, leasing, factoring and pension fund administration.

The core banking segment offers deposit and lending services, credit and debit cards, payment solutions and digital banking platforms.