Banco Macro S.A. (NYSE:BMA) Short Interest Up 29.9% in May

Banco Macro S.A. (NYSE:BMA - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 228,000 shares, a growth of 29.9% from the April 30th total of 175,500 shares. Currently, 0.4% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 346,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.7 days.

Institutional Trading of Banco Macro

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Banco Macro during the 1st quarter worth $31,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in shares of Banco Macro by 1,829.0% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 598 shares of the bank's stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 567 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Banco Macro by 19.0% during the first quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 775 shares of the bank's stock worth $59,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Banco Macro by 31.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,029 shares of the bank's stock worth $78,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wallace Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Banco Macro in the 1st quarter worth about $157,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Banco Macro from $78.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Itau BBA Securities assumed coverage on Banco Macro in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $85.00 target price for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $62.13.

Banco Macro Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BMA traded down $0.26 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $75.70. The company's stock had a trading volume of 369,965 shares, compared to its average volume of 323,198. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 1.02. Banco Macro has a 1-year low of $42.23 and a 1-year high of $118.42. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $85.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $90.34. The firm has a market cap of $4.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.63 and a beta of 1.73.

Banco Macro (NYSE:BMA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.76 by ($1.11). The business had revenue of $759.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $837.49 billion. Banco Macro had a return on equity of 26.55% and a net margin of 15.12%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Banco Macro will post 7.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Banco Macro

Banco Macro SA provides various banking products and services to retail and corporate customers in Argentina. It offers various retail banking products and services, such as savings and checking accounts, time deposits, credit and debit cards, consumer finance loans, mortgage loans, automobile loans, overdrafts, credit-related services, home and car insurance coverage, tax collection, utility payments, automated teller machines, and money transfers.