BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR) Upgraded at HSBC

Key Points

• HSBC upgraded BBVA Banco Frances from a "hold" to a "buy" rating, setting a target price of $17.00, indicating a potential upside of 104.55% from the current stock price.
• BBVA Banco Frances reported Q2 earnings of $0.24 per share, missing estimates of $0.37, with revenues also falling short at $524.41 million.
• Institutional investors have been active, with BNP Paribas increasing its stake by 123.3%, illustrating significant interest from hedge funds in BBVA Banco Frances.

BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at HSBC from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report issued on Wednesday,Finviz reports. The firm presently has a $17.00 target price on the bank's stock. HSBC's target price points to a potential upside of 104.55% from the company's current price.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on BBAR. Citigroup downgraded shares of BBVA Banco Frances from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of BBVA Banco Frances from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BBVA Banco Frances from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, September 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $20.67.

BBVA Banco Frances Trading Down 6.7%

Shares of BBAR stock opened at $8.31 on Wednesday. BBVA Banco Frances has a 1 year low of $7.98 and a 1 year high of $25.01. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $12.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.49. 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 market cap of $1.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.20 and a beta of 1.30.

BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). BBVA Banco Frances had a net margin of 6.65% and a return on equity of 10.24%. The business had revenue of $524.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $727.31 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that BBVA Banco Frances will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BBVA Banco Frances

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of BBVA Banco Frances by 123.3% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 15,301 shares of the bank's stock worth $252,000 after buying an additional 8,450 shares in the last quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of BBVA Banco Frances by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP now owns 514,724 shares of the bank's stock worth $8,810,000 after purchasing an additional 29,319 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of BBVA Banco Frances by 229.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 60,156 shares of the bank's stock worth $990,000 after purchasing an additional 41,920 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of BBVA Banco Frances by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 2,021,521 shares of the bank's stock worth $33,274,000 after purchasing an additional 180,137 shares during the period. Finally, OCONNOR A Distinct Business Unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC purchased a new position in shares of BBVA Banco Frances during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,168,000.

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.

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