Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” from Analysts

Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) has received a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the five ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $27.6667.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on BSAC shares. Citigroup lowered shares of Banco Santander Chile from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Wall Street Zen raised Banco Santander Chile from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Banco Santander Chile in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Banco Santander Chile from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Banco Santander Chile from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Banco Santander Chile

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cardinal Capital Management raised its position in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 99,974 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,521,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. Simplex Trading LLC purchased a new stake in Banco Santander Chile during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 9.9% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 11,470 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $304,000 after acquiring an additional 1,037 shares during the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 10.7% during the third quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 11,625 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $307,000 after acquiring an additional 1,123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 5.7% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 23,789 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $600,000 after acquiring an additional 1,275 shares in the last quarter. 6.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Banco Santander Chile Trading Up 1.0%

Banco Santander Chile stock opened at $31.64 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $29.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.52. The company has a market capitalization of $14.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.58. Banco Santander Chile has a 52 week low of $18.19 and a 52 week high of $31.67. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.51.

Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 17th. The bank reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter. Banco Santander Chile had a net margin of 24.74% and a return on equity of 22.18%. The company had revenue of $740.10 million for the quarter. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Banco Santander Chile will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.

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.