Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. Takes Position in Macro Bank Inc. $BMA

Key Points

• Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired 16,050 shares of Macro Bank Inc., valued at approximately $1,212,000 in the first quarter.
• Analysts from Itau BBA Securities set a price target of $85.00 for Macro Bank, while the current consensus rating is a "Hold" with an average price target of $62.17.
• Macro Bank recently cut its dividend, with a payout of $0.3658 paid to shareholders on August 22nd, reflecting a payout ratio of 38.48%.

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Macro Bank Inc. (NYSE:BMA - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 16,050 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $1,212,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BMA. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Macro Bank in the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its stake in Macro Bank by 1,829.0% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 598 shares of the bank's stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 567 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Macro Bank by 19.0% in the 1st quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 775 shares of the bank's stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Macro Bank by 31.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,029 shares of the bank's stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares during the period. Finally, Wallace Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in Macro Bank in the 1st quarter valued at $157,000.

Macro Bank Price Performance

BMA traded down $1.35 on Monday, hitting $58.14. 278,813 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 401,235. Macro Bank Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $52.33 and a fifty-two week high of $118.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $68.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $78.36. The stock has a market cap of $3.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.69.

Macro Bank (NYSE:BMA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 27th. The bank reported $1.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.99 by ($0.04). Macro Bank had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 8.32%.The business had revenue of $834.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $752.51 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Macro Bank Inc. will post 7.84 earnings per share for the current year.

Macro Bank Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.3658 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.5%. Macro Bank's payout ratio is presently 38.48%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Itau BBA Securities assumed coverage on shares of Macro Bank in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $85.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $62.17.

Macro Bank Company Profile

Banco Macro SA provides various banking products and services to retail and corporate customers in Argentina. It offers various retail banking products and services, such as savings and checking accounts, time deposits, credit and debit cards, consumer finance loans, mortgage loans, automobile loans, overdrafts, credit-related services, home and car insurance coverage, tax collection, utility payments, automated teller machines, and money transfers.