Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) Upgraded to Neutral at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) from an underperform rating to a neutral rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $35.00 target price on the bank’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on BSAC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Banco Santander Chile from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Banco Santander Chile in a research note on Wednesday, January 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. Morgan Stanley set a $38.00 price objective on Banco Santander Chile in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut Banco Santander Chile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Banco Santander Chile presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.50.

Banco Santander Chile Price Performance

BSAC stock opened at $33.75 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $34.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.01. The company has a market capitalization of $15.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.67 and a beta of 0.57. Banco Santander Chile has a 52-week low of $20.77 and a 52-week high of $37.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77.

Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 24.57% and a return on equity of 21.51%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Banco Santander Chile will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Banco Santander Chile

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BSAC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,113,470 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $82,507,000 after purchasing an additional 17,119 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Banco Santander Chile by 0.4% during the fourth 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 during the period. USS Investment Management Ltd increased its holdings in Banco Santander Chile by 45.5% in the fourth 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 increased its holdings in Banco Santander Chile by 48.8% in the fourth 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 acquired a new position in Banco Santander Chile in the third quarter valued at approximately $24,685,000. 6.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.