Grupo Financiero Galicia (NASDAQ:GGAL) Director Acquires $643,750.00 in Stock

Key Points

• Director buying spree: Grupo Financiero Galicia director Silvestre Vila Moret bought 125,000 shares for $643,750, adding to several other recent purchases and lifting his stake by 5.69%.
• Stock and earnings update: GGAL fell 1.7% to $49.39 and has traded between $25.89 and $62.51 over the past year. The company recently reported quarterly EPS of $0.29, missing estimates of $0.36.
• Analyst and dividend backdrop: Analysts currently rate the stock a consensus Hold with an average target price of $68.33. The company also paid a monthly dividend that annualizes to a 15.1% yield, though its payout ratio is high.

Grupo Financiero Galicia S.A. (NASDAQ:GGAL - Get Free Report) Director Silvestre Vila Moret bought 125,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $5.15 per share, for a total transaction of $643,750.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 2,322,209 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,959,376.35. This trade represents a 5.69% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Silvestre Vila Moret also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, July 7th, Silvestre Vila Moret bought 176 shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia stock. The shares were acquired at an average price of $5.46 per share, with a total value of $960.96.
• On Wednesday, July 1st, Silvestre Vila Moret purchased 100,000 shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia stock. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $5.11 per share, with a total value of $511,000.00.
• On Tuesday, June 30th, Silvestre Vila Moret bought 167,791 shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia stock. The shares were acquired at an average price of $5.27 per share, for a total transaction of $884,258.57.
• On Monday, June 29th, Silvestre Vila Moret acquired 10,000 shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia stock. The shares were bought at an average price of $5.25 per share, for a total transaction of $52,500.00.

Grupo Financiero Galicia Trading Down 1.7%

GGAL traded down $0.86 during trading on Thursday, reaching $49.39. The company had a trading volume of 617,476 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,129,484. The stock has a market cap of $7.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.76, a PEG ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.50. Grupo Financiero Galicia S.A. has a 52 week low of $25.89 and a 52 week high of $62.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

Grupo Financiero Galicia (NASDAQ:GGAL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 26th. The bank reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.70 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Grupo Financiero Galicia S.A. will post 3.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Grupo Financiero Galicia Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 4th were paid a dividend of $0.6229 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 15.1%. Grupo Financiero Galicia's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 214.10%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GGAL. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Grupo Financiero Galicia from $72.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Grupo Financiero Galicia from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Grupo Financiero Galicia presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $68.33.

Institutional Trading of Grupo Financiero Galicia

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 149,789 shares of the bank's stock valued at $6,997,000 after purchasing an additional 15,962 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in Grupo Financiero Galicia by 9.1% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 44,531 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,080,000 after buying an additional 3,729 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in Grupo Financiero Galicia by 4.8% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 165,572 shares of the bank's stock valued at $7,734,000 after buying an additional 7,603 shares during the period. Turim 21 Investimentos Ltda. increased its holdings in Grupo Financiero Galicia by 74.4% in the first quarter. Turim 21 Investimentos Ltda. now owns 41,586 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,942,000 after buying an additional 17,746 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Absolute Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. acquired a new position in shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia in the first quarter worth about $7,879,000.

About Grupo Financiero Galicia

Grupo Financiero Galicia is a diversified financial services holding company headquartered in Buenos Aires, Argentina. As one of the country's largest private-sector financial institutions, the company provides a comprehensive suite of banking, insurance and investment products to individual, small-to-medium enterprise (SME) and corporate clients. Its operations span retail and commercial banking, asset management, leasing, factoring and pension fund administration.

The core banking segment offers deposit and lending services, credit and debit cards, payment solutions and digital banking platforms.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.