Sigma Planning Corp Purchases New Stake in Macro Bank Inc. (NYSE:BMA)

Sigma Planning Corp purchased a new position in shares of Macro Bank Inc. (NYSE:BMA - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 6,275 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $474,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BMA. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in Macro Bank by 84.6% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 539,074 shares of the bank's stock valued at $52,161,000 after purchasing an additional 247,070 shares during the last quarter. Gemsstock Ltd. purchased a new stake in Macro Bank during the 4th quarter valued at about $15,349,000. Axiom Investors LLC DE grew its stake in Macro Bank by 72.8% during the 4th quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 302,983 shares of the bank's stock valued at $29,317,000 after purchasing an additional 127,678 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Macro Bank by 9,810.7% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 77,700 shares of the bank's stock valued at $5,867,000 after purchasing an additional 76,916 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sagil Capital LLP purchased a new stake in Macro Bank during the 4th quarter valued at about $7,337,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on BMA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Macro Bank from $78.00 to $89.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Itau BBA Securities initiated coverage on Macro Bank in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $85.00 price objective for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $62.13.

Macro Bank Stock Performance

Shares of BMA stock traded up $1.98 on Wednesday, hitting $67.94. The company had a trading volume of 393,846 shares, compared to its average volume of 325,885. The firm has a market cap of $4.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.26 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $76.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $85.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Macro Bank Inc. has a twelve month low of $42.23 and a twelve month high of $118.42.

Macro Bank (NYSE:BMA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.76 by ($1.11). Macro Bank had a net margin of 1.12% and a return on equity of 1.50%. The company had revenue of $759.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $837.49 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Macro Bank Inc. will post 7.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Macro Bank Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a -- dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Friday, July 18th will be issued a $0.3985 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 18th. This represents a yield of 9.2%. Macro Bank's payout ratio is 19.02%.

About Macro Bank

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.