Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) Sees Strong Trading Volume - Here's Why

Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC - Get Free Report) saw unusually-high trading volume on Monday . Approximately 781,147 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 152% from the previous session's volume of 310,049 shares.The stock last traded at $24.73 and had previously closed at $24.76.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BSAC. Wall Street Zen downgraded Banco Santander-Chile from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. UBS Group raised their target price 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. Finally, Bank of America cut Banco Santander-Chile from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and set a $24.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $23.00.

Banco Santander-Chile Stock Down 0.8%

The business's 50 day moving average is $24.21 and its 200-day moving average is $21.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.70, a current ratio of 1.79 and a quick ratio of 1.79. The company has a market cap of $11.57 billion, a PE ratio of 12.65, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.68.

Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The bank reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.06. Banco Santander-Chile had a net margin of 19.16% and a return on equity of 19.15%. The business had revenue of $767.62 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $717.38 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Banco Santander-Chile will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.

Banco Santander-Chile Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 6th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 23rd were issued a dividend of $1.349 per share. This represents a yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 23rd. This is a positive change from Banco Santander-Chile's previous annual dividend of $1.25. Banco Santander-Chile's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.23%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BSAC. Brooklyn Investment Group increased its stake in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 54,450.0% during the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,091 shares of the bank's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,089 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in Banco Santander-Chile by 601.6% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,810 shares of the bank's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 1,552 shares during the period. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in Banco Santander-Chile by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 7,897 shares of the bank's stock valued at $149,000 after acquiring an additional 863 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 3,456.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,003 shares of the bank's stock valued at $182,000 after purchasing an additional 7,778 shares during the period. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in Banco Santander-Chile during the 1st quarter worth about $206,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.

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