Cerity Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 9,805 Banco de Chile (NYSE:BCH)

Cerity Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Banco de Chile (NYSE:BCH) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 9,805 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Advisors Preferred LLC purchased a new position in Banco de Chile in the fourth quarter worth approximately $194,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Banco de Chile by 737.6% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,697 shares of the bank’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 2,375 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Banco de Chile by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 10,488 shares of the bank’s stock worth $242,000 after purchasing an additional 541 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. increased its holdings in Banco de Chile by 16.5% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 17,086 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $394,000 after buying an additional 2,425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in Banco de Chile in the third quarter valued at $2,328,000. 1.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Banco de Chile from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $22.00.

Banco de Chile Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of Banco de Chile stock opened at $22.48 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.81. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $22.14. The stock has a market cap of $11.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.49 and a beta of 0.40. Banco de Chile has a 12-month low of $19.20 and a 12-month high of $24.10.

Banco de Chile (NYSE:BCH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 29th. The bank reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.72 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $987.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $872.49 million. Banco de Chile had a net margin of 28.62% and a return on equity of 25.45%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Banco de Chile will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Banco de Chile Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a Variable dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Investors of record on Friday, March 22nd were given a $1.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 21st. This represents a dividend yield of 4.8%. Banco de Chile’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.33%.

Banco de Chile Profile

Banco de Chile, together with its subsidiaries, provides various banking services to customers in Chile. The company offers checking and debit accounts, debit and credit cards, and lines of credit; mortgage, consume, commercial, general purpose mortgage loans, and finance leases; and factoring services, mutual fund management, stock brokerage, foreign trade, payments and collections, insurance brokerage, including life and general insurance, as well as time deposits, savings instruments, and foreign currency services through branches under the Banco de Chile and Banco Edwards brands.