Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) Short Interest Up 39.3% in March

Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 688,438 shares, a growth of 39.3% from the March 15th total of 494,338 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 473,961 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.5 days. Currently, 0.1% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on BSAC shares. Bank of America upgraded Banco Santander Chile from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Banco Santander Chile from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Banco Santander Chile from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. Itau BBA Securities upgraded Banco Santander Chile from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Banco Santander Chile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.50.

Banco Santander Chile Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE BSAC opened at $35.84 on Friday. Banco Santander Chile has a one year low of $22.77 and a one year high of $37.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.89 billion, a PE ratio of 15.58, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $33.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.62.

Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 13th. The bank reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter. Banco Santander Chile had a return on equity of 21.51% and a net margin of 24.57%.The firm had revenue of $787.51 million during the quarter. As a group, analysts predict that Banco Santander Chile will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Banco Santander Chile

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,113,470 shares of the bank’s stock worth $82,507,000 after purchasing an additional 17,119 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,599,117 shares of the bank’s stock worth $49,749,000 after purchasing an additional 5,660 shares in the last quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd raised its stake in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 45.5% during the 4th quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd now owns 1,561,544 shares of the bank’s stock worth $48,603,000 after purchasing an additional 488,676 shares in the last quarter. INCA Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 48.8% during the 4th quarter. INCA Investments LLC now owns 1,064,274 shares of the bank’s stock worth $33,110,000 after purchasing an additional 349,082 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TT International Asset Management LTD purchased a new stake in shares of Banco Santander Chile during the 3rd quarter worth about $24,685,000. 6.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Banco Santander Chile

Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) is one of the leading financial institutions in Chile and a key component of the global Santander Group. The bank offers a comprehensive range of banking and financial services, including retail and commercial lending, deposit accounts, credit cards, wealth management, insurance products and corporate banking solutions. Headquartered in Santiago, it operates an extensive network of branches, ATMs and digital platforms to serve individual customers, small and medium-sized enterprises and large corporations across the country.

Originally founded as Banco de Santiago in the late 1970s, the institution became part of the Santander Group following the privatization wave in Chile during the late 1980s.