BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR) Shares Up 6.8% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• BBVA Banco Frances' stock price surged 6.8% to $10.78, following a previous close of $10.09, with nearly 507,000 shares traded.
• The company faced mixed ratings from analysts, with Zacks lowering the stock to a "strong sell," while Wall Street Zen upgraded it to "hold," resulting in a consensus rating of "hold" with an average target price of $22.50.
• BBVA Banco Frances announced a monthly dividend of $0.0335 per share, reflecting a 3.9% annualized yield and payout ratio of 29.85%, with the dividend payment set for September 26th.

BBVA Banco Frances S.A. (NYSE:BBAR - Get Free Report)'s stock price shot up 6.8% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $11.47 and last traded at $10.78. 506,734 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 38% from the average session volume of 820,843 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.09.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BBAR. Zacks Research lowered BBVA Banco Frances from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Citigroup lowered BBVA Banco Frances from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised BBVA Banco Frances from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, September 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $22.50.

BBVA Banco Frances Trading Up 2.3%

The firm has a market cap of $2.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.78 and a beta of 1.30. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.11.

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

BBVA Banco Frances Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 26th. Investors of record on Friday, September 19th will be given a dividend of $0.0335 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 19th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. BBVA Banco Frances's payout ratio is 29.85%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BBVA Banco Frances

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $1,741,000 after acquiring an additional 91,919 shares in the last quarter. Banco BTG Pactual S.A. purchased a new position in shares of BBVA Banco Frances in the first quarter valued at about $362,000. North of South Capital LLP purchased a new position in shares of BBVA Banco Frances in the first quarter valued at about $544,000. PointState Capital LP lifted its position in shares of BBVA Banco Frances by 36.1% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of BBVA Banco Frances in the first quarter valued at about $637,000.

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.

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