Banco De Chile (NYSE:BCH) Reaches New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Banco De Chile (NYSE:BCH)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $44.28 and last traded at $44.16, with a volume of 491199 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $43.20.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on BCH shares. 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. Zacks Research downgraded Banco De Chile from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. Wall Street Zen lowered Banco De Chile from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Banco De Chile in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Banco De Chile currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $36.00.

Banco De Chile Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 1.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.20. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $38.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.52.

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

Institutional Trading of Banco De Chile

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. TT International Asset Management LTD acquired a new stake in Banco De Chile in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,962,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Banco De Chile by 16.4% in the second quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 467,468 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $14,220,000 after purchasing an additional 65,708 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Banco De Chile by 199.1% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 352,465 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $10,680,000 after purchasing an additional 234,619 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Banco De Chile by 177.7% during the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 298,085 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,032,000 after buying an additional 190,741 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Banco De Chile by 53.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 216,950 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,747,000 after buying an additional 75,924 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 1.24% of the company’s stock.

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.