Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $20.48.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on BSAC shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Banco Santander-Chile from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $18.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Berenberg Bank upgraded shares of Banco Santander-Chile to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Itau BBA Securities raised shares of Banco Santander-Chile from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Banco Santander-Chile from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Banco Santander-Chile

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BSAC. RWC Asset Management LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 60.5% in the 2nd quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 796,552 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $14,999,000 after buying an additional 300,257 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its stake in Banco Santander-Chile by 900.5% in the second quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 165,285 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,107,000 after acquiring an additional 148,764 shares in the last quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. purchased a new position in Banco Santander-Chile in the first quarter worth $929,000. DNB Asset Management AS increased its position in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 35.8% during the second quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 166,763 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,140,000 after purchasing an additional 43,949 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new position in shares of Banco Santander-Chile during the fourth quarter worth $585,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 6.42% of the company’s stock.

Banco Santander-Chile Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of BSAC opened at $21.25 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.16, a PEG ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.60, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.86. Banco Santander-Chile has a 1-year low of $16.89 and a 1-year high of $21.27. The company has a 50-day moving average of $20.15 and a 200 day moving average of $19.57.

Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The bank reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.01). Banco Santander-Chile had a net margin of 11.84% and a return on equity of 11.87%. The company had revenue of $599.94 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $693.44 million. On average, research analysts expect that Banco Santander-Chile will post 1.82 EPS for the current year.

Banco Santander-Chile Company Profile

Banco Santander-Chile, together with its subsidiaries, provides commercial and retail banking services in Chile. It operates through Retail Banking, Middle-Market, Corporate Investment Banking, and Corporate Activities segments. The company offers debit and credit cards, checking accounts, and savings products; consumer, automobile, commercial, mortgage, and government-guaranteed loans; and Chilean peso and foreign currency-denominated loans to finance various commercial transactions, trade, foreign currency forward contracts, and credit lines, as well as mortgage financing services.