Wall Street Zen Downgrades Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) to Hold

Key Points

• Banco Santander Chile has been downgraded from a "buy" to a "hold" rating by Wall Street Zen, indicating a more cautious outlook on the stock's performance.
• UBS Group has raised its target price for Banco Santander Chile to $24.00, while Bank of America has downgraded it to an "underperform" rating with the same price target.
• The company reported earnings of $0.60 EPS for the last quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.02.

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on BSAC. UBS Group lifted their price target on Banco Santander Chile from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Bank of America cut Banco Santander Chile from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and set a $24.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, May 1st.

Banco Santander Chile Stock Performance

NYSE BSAC traded down $0.18 on Friday, hitting $23.34. 77,068 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 366,344. The business's fifty day moving average is $24.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.26. Banco Santander Chile has a 12 month low of $18.19 and a 12 month high of $25.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.72, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.61, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a current ratio of 1.76.

Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The bank reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.62 by ($0.02). Banco Santander Chile had a net margin of 24.32% and a return on equity of 22.21%. The firm had revenue of $757.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $758.17 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Banco Santander Chile will post 2.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Candriam S.C.A. purchased a new stake in Banco Santander Chile in the 1st quarter worth about $25,116,000. RWC Asset Management LLP boosted its stake in Banco Santander Chile by 45.3% in the first quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 826,754 shares of the bank's stock valued at $18,850,000 after acquiring an additional 257,895 shares in the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 247.3% in the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 274,114 shares of the bank's stock worth $5,170,000 after buying an additional 195,189 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its holdings in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 120.6% in the second quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 276,728 shares of the bank's stock worth $6,979,000 after buying an additional 151,310 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Banco Santander Chile in the first quarter worth $2,990,000. Institutional investors own 6.42% of the company's stock.

About Banco Santander Chile

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.