Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) Given Average Rating of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) has received a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the six brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $27.6667.

A number of equities analysts have commented on BSAC shares. Citigroup lowered shares of Banco Santander Chile from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Banco Santander Chile from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 30th. UBS Group raised their target price on Banco Santander Chile from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Banco Santander Chile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Banco Santander Chile in a report on Wednesday, January 21st.

Institutional Trading of Banco Santander Chile

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. PCM Encore LLC acquired a new stake in Banco Santander Chile in the 4th quarter valued at about $262,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Banco Santander Chile by 739.5% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,486 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 1,309 shares during the last quarter. Focused Alpha LLC bought a new position in Banco Santander Chile during the fourth quarter worth $280,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its position in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 22.7% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,949 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $123,000 after purchasing an additional 731 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 227.1% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 18,767 shares of the bank’s stock worth $584,000 after buying an additional 13,030 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 6.42% of the company’s stock.

Banco Santander Chile Price Performance

NYSE BSAC opened at $35.64 on Friday. Banco Santander Chile has a 12 month low of $20.77 and a 12 month high of $37.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.51, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $33.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.79 billion, a PE ratio of 15.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.58.

Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 9th. The bank reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $740.07 million for the quarter. Banco Santander Chile had a return on equity of 23.25% and a net margin of 24.57%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Banco Santander Chile will post 2.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Banco Santander Chile Company Profile

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.