Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) Sees Large Volume Increase - Here's Why

Shares of Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC - Get Free Report) saw strong trading volume on Monday . 781,147 shares were traded 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 Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on BSAC. Bank of America lowered shares of Banco Santander Chile from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and set a $24.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, May 1st. UBS Group lifted their target price on Banco Santander Chile from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Banco Santander Chile from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $23.00.

Banco Santander Chile Stock Down 0.6%

The stock's 50-day moving average price is $24.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.61. The stock has a market cap of $11.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.68.

Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC - Get Free Report) last released 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. The business had revenue of $767.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $717.38 billion. Banco Santander Chile had a net margin of 23.00% and a return on equity of 21.48%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Banco Santander Chile will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Banco Santander Chile Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Banco Santander Chile

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its holdings 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 worth $25,000 after buying an additional 1,089 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 601.6% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,810 shares of the bank's stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 1,552 shares during the period. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Banco Santander Chile by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 7,897 shares of the bank's stock worth $149,000 after acquiring an additional 863 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Banco Santander Chile by 3,456.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,003 shares of the bank's stock worth $182,000 after acquiring an additional 7,778 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in Banco Santander Chile in the first quarter worth $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.