Millennium Management LLC Sells 895,019 Shares of Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC)

Millennium Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC - Free Report) by 82.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 188,973 shares of the bank's stock after selling 895,019 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC's holdings in Banco Santander-Chile were worth $3,564,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Banco Santander-Chile by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 7,897 shares of the bank's stock valued at $149,000 after purchasing an additional 863 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 41.3% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 3,089 shares of the bank's stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 903 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Banco Santander-Chile by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 492,868 shares of the bank's stock worth $9,295,000 after purchasing an additional 1,307 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in Banco Santander-Chile by 601.6% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,810 shares of the bank's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 1,552 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Banco Santander-Chile by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 18,415 shares of the bank's stock valued at $382,000 after buying an additional 1,831 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 6.42% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America cut shares of Banco Santander-Chile from a "neutral" rating to an "underperform" rating and set a $24.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Banco Santander-Chile from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Banco Santander-Chile from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $22.75.

Banco Santander-Chile Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of Banco Santander-Chile stock traded down $0.14 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $24.50. 313,783 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 305,872. The company has a market cap of $11.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.67. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $23.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.70, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 1.79. Banco Santander-Chile has a 52 week low of $18.19 and a 52 week high of $25.53.

Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The bank reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $767.62 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $717.38 billion. Banco Santander-Chile had a net margin of 19.16% and a return on equity of 19.15%. Equities analysts expect that Banco Santander-Chile will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Banco Santander-Chile Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 6th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 23rd were issued a dividend of $1.349 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 23rd. This represents a dividend yield of 4.8%. This is an increase from Banco Santander-Chile's previous annual dividend of $1.25. Banco Santander-Chile's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.23%.

About Banco Santander-Chile

Banco Santander-Chile, together with its subsidiaries, provides commercial and retail banking services in Chile. It operates through Retail Banking, Middle-Market, Corporate Investment Banking, and Corporate Activities segments. The company offers debit and credit cards, checking accounts, and savings products; consumer, automobile, commercial, mortgage, and government-guaranteed loans; and Chilean peso and foreign currency-denominated loans to finance various commercial transactions, trade, foreign currency forward contracts, and credit lines, as well as mortgage financing services.