Hsbc Holdings PLC Boosts Holdings in Grupo Financiero Galicia S.A. $GGAL

Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia S.A. (NASDAQ:GGAL) by 71.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 186,852 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 77,740 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned about 0.13% of Grupo Financiero Galicia worth $9,984,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its holdings in Grupo Financiero Galicia by 4,942.9% during the 3rd quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 2,118 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 2,076 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in Grupo Financiero Galicia in the 4th quarter worth $74,000. Acuitas Investments LLC acquired a new position in Grupo Financiero Galicia in the 3rd quarter worth $110,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Grupo Financiero Galicia in the 2nd quarter valued at about $151,000. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in Grupo Financiero Galicia by 247.3% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,258 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $176,000 after buying an additional 2,320 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GGAL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Grupo Financiero Galicia from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 23rd. Zacks Research raised Grupo Financiero Galicia from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Grupo Financiero Galicia from $72.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Grupo Financiero Galicia presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.33.

Grupo Financiero Galicia Trading Up 0.7%

GGAL opened at $49.42 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.94 billion, a PE ratio of 21.77, a P/E/G ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.16. Grupo Financiero Galicia S.A. has a 12-month low of $25.89 and a 12-month high of $62.51. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $47.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.50.

Grupo Financiero Galicia (NASDAQ:GGAL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 26th. The bank reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. Grupo Financiero Galicia had a return on equity of 18.96% and a net margin of 7.13%. As a group, research analysts expect that Grupo Financiero Galicia S.A. will post 3.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Grupo Financiero Galicia Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th were paid a $0.6229 dividend. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 15.1%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. Grupo Financiero Galicia’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 214.10%.

About Grupo Financiero Galicia

Grupo Financiero Galicia is a diversified financial services holding company headquartered in Buenos Aires, Argentina. As one of the country’s largest private-sector financial institutions, the company provides a comprehensive suite of banking, insurance and investment products to individual, small-to-medium enterprise (SME) and corporate clients. Its operations span retail and commercial banking, asset management, leasing, factoring and pension fund administration.

The core banking segment offers deposit and lending services, credit and debit cards, payment solutions and digital banking platforms.