BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR) Downgraded to "Sell" Rating by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• BBVA Banco Frances has been downgraded from a "hold" to a "sell" rating by Wall Street Zen, reflecting a more negative outlook on the stock.
• The stock currently has a market capitalization of $2.50 billion and its 52-week range is between $9.34 and $25.01, indicating significant price volatility.
• The bank reported a loss in earnings, missing consensus estimates with $0.24 earnings per share compared to an expected $0.37.

Wall Street Zen cut shares of BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR - Free Report) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Saturday.

Separately, Itau BBA Securities began coverage on shares of BBVA Banco Frances in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $18.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $22.50.

BBVA Banco Frances Price Performance

NYSE:BBAR traded up $0.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $12.51. 595,499 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 698,137. The company has a market cap of $2.55 billion, a PE ratio of 9.33 and a beta of 1.30. BBVA Banco Frances has a 12-month low of $10.06 and a 12-month high of $25.01. The business's 50-day moving average price is $15.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 20th. The bank reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $524.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $727.31 billion. BBVA Banco Frances had a net margin of 6.65% and a return on equity of 10.24%. On average, analysts expect that BBVA Banco Frances will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BBVA Banco Frances Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a monthly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th were paid a dividend of $0.0221 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. BBVA Banco Frances's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.15%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BBVA Banco Frances

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of BBVA Banco Frances by 2,203.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 96,090 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,741,000 after buying an additional 91,919 shares during the period. Banco BTG Pactual S.A. purchased a new position in BBVA Banco Frances in the 1st quarter worth approximately $362,000. North of South Capital LLP bought a new stake in BBVA Banco Frances in the first quarter valued at approximately $544,000. Deltec Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of BBVA Banco Frances by 43.1% in the first quarter. Deltec Asset Management LLC now owns 85,000 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,540,000 after purchasing an additional 25,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft bought a new stake in BBVA Banco Frances during the 1st quarter valued at $312,000.

About BBVA Banco Frances

Banco BBVA Argentina SA provides various banking products and services to individuals and companies in Argentina. The company provides retail banking products and services, such as checking and savings accounts, time deposits, credit cards financing, consumer and pledge loans, mortgages, insurance, and investment products to individuals; and small and medium-sized companies products and services, including financing products, factoring, checking accounts, time deposits, transactional and payroll services, insurance, and investment products to private-sector companies.