Investors Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Grupo Financiero Galicia (NASDAQ:GGAL)

Key Points

• Unusually high options activity: Investors bought 3,003 call options on Grupo Financiero Galicia, about 63% above its average daily call volume.
• Analyst sentiment weakened: Recent downgrades from Weiss Ratings, Itau BBA Securities, and UBS contributed to an overall “Hold” consensus, with an average price target of $65.
• Shares declined while earnings beat estimates: GGAL fell 4.2% to $32.30, despite reporting quarterly earnings of $1.14 per share versus the $0.98 consensus estimate. The company also reduced its monthly dividend to $0.0479 per share.

Grupo Financiero Galicia S.A. (NASDAQ:GGAL - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors acquired 3,003 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 63% compared to the average daily volume of 1,842 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Itau BBA Securities lowered Grupo Financiero Galicia from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Grupo Financiero Galicia from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $65.00.

Grupo Financiero Galicia Trading Down 4.2%

GGAL stock traded down $1.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $32.30. The stock had a trading volume of 1,467,383 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,103,001. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $45.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.18, a P/E/G ratio of 0.18 and a beta of 1.29. Grupo Financiero Galicia has a 52 week low of $32.02 and a 52 week high of $62.51.

Grupo Financiero Galicia (NASDAQ:GGAL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 25th. The bank reported $1.14 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.98 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $1.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Grupo Financiero Galicia will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Grupo Financiero Galicia Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a monthly dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 5th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 28th were issued a $0.0479 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 28th. This represents a $0.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. This is a drop from Grupo Financiero Galicia's previous monthly dividend of $0.0531. Grupo Financiero Galicia's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.27%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Grupo Financiero Galicia

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. ABS Direct Equity Fund LLC bought a new position in shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia in the second quarter worth about $3,394,000. Carrhae Capital LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $68,052,000. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC grew its holdings in shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia by 52.2% during the 2nd quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC now owns 517,540 shares of the bank's stock valued at $25,893,000 after purchasing an additional 177,574 shares during the last quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP increased its position in Grupo Financiero Galicia by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 890,348 shares of the bank's stock worth $33,157,000 after purchasing an additional 36,903 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moerus Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Grupo Financiero Galicia in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $8,179,000.

Grupo Financiero Galicia Company Profile

Grupo Financiero Galicia SA is an Argentine financial services holding company whose principal business is conducted through Banco de Galicia y Buenos Aires SAU., commonly known as Galicia. The group serves individuals, businesses, agricultural customers and public-sector entities across Argentina.

Through its banking operations, Galicia offers deposit accounts, consumer and commercial loans, credit and debit cards, payment services, cash management, foreign trade financing, investment products and digital banking services.

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