BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR) Sets New 12-Month Low - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• BBVA Banco Frances hit a new 52-week low with shares trading as low as $7.88 before closing at $7.96, down from $8.06.
• Analyst ratings have been mixed, with Wall Street Zen upgrading the stock to a "hold", while Zacks Research downgraded it to a "strong sell" rating, reflecting differing outlooks on the company's performance.
• The company reported earnings per share (EPS) of $0.24 for the last quarter, missing estimates by $0.13, signaling potential challenges ahead.

BBVA Banco Frances S.A. (NYSE:BBAR - Get Free Report)'s share price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $7.88 and last traded at $7.96, with a volume of 223777 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $8.06.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen raised BBVA Banco Frances from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, September 7th. Citigroup downgraded shares of BBVA Banco Frances from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, September 11th. Zacks Research cut shares of BBVA Banco Frances from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, HSBC raised BBVA Banco Frances from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $21.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $20.67.

BBVA Banco Frances Trading Down 2.9%

The business's fifty day moving average is $12.75 and its 200-day moving average is $16.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.60 billion, a PE ratio of 5.84 and a beta of 1.14. 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 announced 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). BBVA Banco Frances had a net margin of 6.65% and a return on equity of 10.24%. The company had revenue of $524.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $727.31 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that BBVA Banco Frances S.A. 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 Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 19th were given a dividend of $0.0335 per share. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 19th. BBVA Banco Frances's dividend payout ratio is 29.85%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BBVA Banco Frances

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in BBVA Banco Frances by 2,203.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 96,090 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,741,000 after buying an additional 91,919 shares during the last quarter. Banco BTG Pactual S.A. purchased a new position in shares of BBVA Banco Frances during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $362,000. North of South Capital LLP purchased a new position in shares of BBVA Banco Frances during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $544,000. Walleye Capital LLC bought a new position in BBVA Banco Frances during the 1st quarter valued at $637,000. Finally, PointState Capital LP boosted its stake in BBVA Banco Frances by 36.1% during the 1st quarter. PointState Capital LP now owns 3,346,539 shares of the bank's stock valued at $60,639,000 after acquiring an additional 888,235 shares during the last quarter.

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.

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