Banco De Chile (NYSE:BCH) Cut to “Strong Sell” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of Banco De Chile (NYSE:BCH) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

BCH has been the topic of a number of other reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Banco De Chile from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Banco De Chile in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Banco De Chile from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $36.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Banco De Chile from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $36.00.

Banco De Chile Stock Performance

NYSE:BCH opened at $45.83 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.04 billion, a PE ratio of 16.37, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.20. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $39.27 and its 200 day moving average is $33.81. Banco De Chile has a fifty-two week low of $23.66 and a fifty-two week high of $46.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 1.53 and a current ratio of 1.53.

Banco De Chile (NYSE:BCH) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The bank reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.62 by ($0.02). Banco De Chile had a return on equity of 23.25% and a net margin of 32.87%.The firm had revenue of $764.93 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $831.97 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Banco De Chile will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Banco De Chile

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Banco De Chile by 161.6% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,504 shares of the bank’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 929 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in shares of Banco De Chile by 2,425.3% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,500 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 2,401 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Banco De Chile by 276.2% in the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,513 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 1,845 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Banco De Chile by 1,355.4% in the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,231 shares of the bank’s stock worth $98,000 after acquiring an additional 3,009 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Banco De Chile by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,396 shares of the bank’s stock worth $167,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. 1.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Banco De Chile Company Profile

Banco de Chile (NYSE: BCH) is a leading Chilean financial institution headquartered in Santiago. Founded in 1893, the bank is one of the country’s oldest and most established banking groups, serving a broad spectrum of individual, corporate and institutional clients. It is publicly listed and operates under Chilean banking regulations while participating in international capital markets.

The bank’s core businesses include retail banking, commercial and corporate banking, and investment banking.