BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR) Trading Down 4.7% Following Analyst Downgrade

Key Points

• BBVA Banco Frances's stock fell 4.7% to $9.14, with trading volume down 82% from its average.
• The bank reported a missed earnings expectation of $0.24 EPS compared to the consensus estimate of $0.37, along with revenues falling short at $524.41 million.
• Several analysts have issued mixed ratings on BBVA Banco Frances, with a consensus rating of "Hold" and a target price of $22.50.

BBVA Banco Frances S.A. (NYSE:BBAR - Get Free Report)'s share price traded down 4.7% during mid-day trading on Friday after Citigroup downgraded the stock from a buy rating to a hold rating. The company traded as low as $9.21 and last traded at $9.14. 144,926 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 794,991 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.59.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on BBAR. Itau BBA Securities assumed coverage on BBVA Banco Frances in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $18.00 price target for 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. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded BBVA Banco Frances from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $22.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fourth Sail Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of BBVA Banco Frances during the second quarter worth about $29,399,000. PointState Capital LP grew its holdings in shares of BBVA Banco Frances by 36.1% during the first quarter. PointState Capital LP now owns 3,346,539 shares of the bank's stock worth $60,639,000 after purchasing an additional 888,235 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of BBVA Banco Frances by 695.8% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 523,438 shares of the bank's stock worth $9,977,000 after purchasing an additional 457,663 shares during the last quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of BBVA Banco Frances by 30.8% during the first quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC now owns 1,852,539 shares of the bank's stock worth $33,568,000 after purchasing an additional 435,692 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OCONNOR A Distinct Business Unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC bought a new stake in shares of BBVA Banco Frances during the second quarter worth about $3,168,000.

BBVA Banco Frances Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.53 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $14.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.20.

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 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $524.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $727.31 billion. BBVA Banco Frances had a return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 6.65%. Equities analysts forecast 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 was paid on Monday, August 25th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th were issued a $0.0221 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. BBVA Banco Frances's dividend payout ratio is presently 20.15%.

BBVA Banco Frances Company Profile

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.