Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores S.A. (NYSE:AVAL) Short Interest Update

Key Points

• Short interest plunged 55% to 201,161 shares as of March 13, leaving a days-to-cover of just 0.6 and effectively 0.0% of shares reported sold short.
• Institutional ownership is minimal at 0.21%, though several small funds recently initiated or slightly increased positions in the stock.
• Analysts’ consensus is a Hold after Citigroup’s downgrade to neutral; shares trade around $4.20 with a market cap of about $4.99 billion and the company recently beat quarter EPS estimates ($0.12 vs. $0.10).

Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores S.A. (NYSE:AVAL - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 201,161 shares, a decrease of 55.0% from the February 26th total of 447,119 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 331,296 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.6 days. Currently, 0.0% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores in the fourth quarter valued at $49,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores during the second quarter worth $34,000. Banco BTG Pactual S.A. increased its holdings in Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores by 33.0% in the 3rd quarter. Banco BTG Pactual S.A. now owns 15,587 shares of the bank's stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 3,871 shares during the period. Plan A Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores by 32.4% in the 3rd quarter. Plan A Wealth LLC now owns 15,811 shares of the bank's stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 3,868 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SmartHarvest Portfolios LLC acquired a new position in shares of Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores in the 4th quarter valued at $101,000. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on AVAL. Citigroup downgraded Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold".

Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores Stock Performance

Shares of AVAL traded down $0.12 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $4.20. 63,764 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 176,398. The stock's fifty day moving average is $4.37 and its 200 day moving average is $4.07. The stock has a market cap of $4.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.68 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.08. Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores has a 1-year low of $2.25 and a 1-year high of $5.28.

Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores (NYSE:AVAL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The bank reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.02. Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores had a return on equity of 6.99% and a net margin of 5.06%.The business had revenue of $1.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.24 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores will post 0.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores Company Profile

Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores SA is a leading Colombian financial holding company that offers a diversified range of banking and financial services across Latin America. As one of the largest financial conglomerates in Colombia, Grupo Aval provides commercial and retail banking, leasing, insurance brokerage, pension fund management and investment banking through its principal subsidiaries.

Its core banking operations are conducted through a network of well-established institutions, including Banco de Bogotá, Banco de Occidente, Banco Popular and Banco AV Villas, which together serve individual consumers, small and medium-sized enterprises and large corporate clients.

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