Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) Raised to “Outperform” at Itau BBA Securities

Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) was upgraded by investment analysts at Itau BBA Securities from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

BSAC has been the subject of several other reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Banco Santander Chile in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Banco Santander Chile from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Banco Santander Chile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $38.00 target price on Banco Santander Chile in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $30.25.

Banco Santander Chile Trading Down 3.5%

Shares of BSAC stock opened at $31.05 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94. Banco Santander Chile has a fifty-two week low of $20.77 and a fifty-two week high of $37.72. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $34.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.59. The stock has a market cap of $14.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.50 and a beta of 0.57.

Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 9th. The bank reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Banco Santander Chile had a net margin of 24.57% and a return on equity of 21.51%. The company had revenue of $740.07 million during the quarter. On average, analysts anticipate that Banco Santander Chile will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Banco Santander Chile

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BSAC. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 22.7% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,949 shares of the bank’s stock worth $123,000 after buying an additional 731 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 29.1% in the 4th quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,398 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $106,000 after buying an additional 766 shares during the period. Cardinal Capital Management grew its position in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 102,880 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,201,000 after buying an additional 782 shares during the last quarter. Simplex Trading LLC bought a new stake in shares of Banco Santander Chile during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in Banco Santander Chile by 199.8% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,511 shares of the bank’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 6.42% of the company’s stock.

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.