BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR) Upgraded to “Buy” at HSBC

HSBC upgraded shares of BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. HSBC currently has $17.00 target price on the bank’s stock, down from their previous target price of $21.00.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of BBVA Banco Frances from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, September 7th. Zacks Research cut shares of BBVA Banco Frances from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Citigroup cut shares of BBVA Banco Frances from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.67.

BBVA Banco Frances Price Performance

BBVA Banco Frances stock opened at $8.06 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $12.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $16.44. BBVA Banco Frances has a 1 year low of $7.98 and a 1 year high of $25.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.01 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.11.

BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 20th. The bank reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.13). BBVA Banco Frances had a net margin of 6.65% and a return on equity of 10.24%. The company had revenue of $524.41 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $727.31 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that BBVA Banco Frances will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BBVA Banco Frances Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 19th were given a dividend of $0.0335 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 19th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.0%. BBVA Banco Frances’s payout ratio is presently 29.85%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of BBVA Banco Frances by 199.9% during the 2nd quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 2,381 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,587 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in BBVA Banco Frances by 27.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,303 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $96,000 after buying an additional 1,132 shares during the period. Fox Run Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in BBVA Banco Frances in the 1st quarter valued at about $211,000. Private Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in BBVA Banco Frances in the 1st quarter valued at about $224,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in BBVA Banco Frances by 123.3% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 15,301 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $252,000 after buying an additional 8,450 shares during the period.

About BBVA Banco Frances

Banco BBVA Argentina SA provides various banking products and services to individuals and companies in Argentina. The company provides retail banking products and services, such as checking and savings accounts, time deposits, credit cards financing, consumer and pledge loans, mortgages, insurance, and investment products to individuals; and small and medium-sized companies products and services, including financing products, factoring, checking accounts, time deposits, transactional and payroll services, insurance, and investment products to private-sector companies.