BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Hold Rating

Key Points

• BBVA Banco Frances was upgraded from a "sell" to a "hold" rating by Wall Street Zen, and Itau BBA Securities initiated coverage with a "market perform" rating and a price target of $18.00.
• The bank reported $0.24 earnings per share for the recent quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37, and had a revenue of $524.41 million, significantly lower than the expected $727.31 million.
• Several institutional investors have significantly increased their stakes in BBVA Banco Frances, with SBI Securities boosting its holdings by 199.9% in the second quarter.

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR - Free Report) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Sunday morning.

Separately, Itau BBA Securities initiated coverage on BBVA Banco Frances in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $18.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BBVA Banco Frances currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $22.50.

BBVA Banco Frances Stock Performance

BBVA Banco Frances stock traded down $0.25 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $9.55. 1,031,205 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,052,241. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $14.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.35. BBVA Banco Frances has a fifty-two week low of $9.19 and a fifty-two week high of $25.01. The stock has a market cap of $1.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.13 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.

BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $524.41 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $727.31 billion. On average, research analysts expect that BBVA Banco Frances will post 1.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BBVA Banco Frances Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a monthly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 25th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th were given a $0.0221 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. BBVA Banco Frances's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.15%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BBAR. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC increased its position in shares of BBVA Banco Frances by 38.9% in the fourth quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 149,350 shares of the bank's stock worth $2,847,000 after purchasing an additional 41,852 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in BBVA Banco Frances by 93.3% in the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,733,785 shares of the bank's stock valued at $33,046,000 after acquiring an additional 836,688 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in BBVA Banco Frances by 695.8% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 523,438 shares of the bank's stock valued at $9,977,000 after acquiring an additional 457,663 shares during the last quarter. PointState Capital LP grew its position in BBVA Banco Frances by 47.7% in the fourth quarter. PointState Capital LP now owns 2,458,304 shares of the bank's stock valued at $46,855,000 after acquiring an additional 793,411 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in BBVA Banco Frances by 42.6% in the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 61,600 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,174,000 after acquiring an additional 18,400 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.