Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) Position Boosted by Two Sigma Investments LP

Two Sigma Investments LP raised its position in shares of Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC - Free Report) by 41.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 145,280 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 42,302 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP's holdings in Banco Santander-Chile were worth $2,740,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 601.6% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 41.3% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 3,089 shares of the bank's stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 903 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Banco Santander-Chile during the fourth quarter worth about $61,000. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 12.3% during the fourth quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 7,897 shares of the bank's stock worth $149,000 after purchasing an additional 863 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Banco Santander-Chile during the fourth quarter worth about $232,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 6.42% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Banco Santander-Chile Stock Up 0.5%

NYSE BSAC traded up $0.12 on Wednesday, hitting $24.71. 387,035 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 307,156. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $23.85 and a 200 day moving average of $21.66. Banco Santander-Chile has a twelve month low of $18.19 and a twelve month high of $25.53. The company has a market capitalization of $11.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.70.

Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The bank reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.06. Banco Santander-Chile had a return on equity of 19.15% and a net margin of 19.16%. The firm had revenue of $767.62 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $717.38 billion. As a group, 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 disclosed an annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 6th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 23rd were issued a $1.349 dividend. This represents a yield of 4.8%. This is a positive change from Banco Santander-Chile's previous annual dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 23rd. Banco Santander-Chile's dividend payout ratio is 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.