Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria S.A. (NYSE:BBVA) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria S.A. (NYSE:BBVA) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the six research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company.

Several research analysts have recently commented on BBVA shares. Zacks Research downgraded Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria in a report on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley started coverage on Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. They issued an “equal weight” rating for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 20th.

Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BBVA opened at $23.44 on Friday. Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria has a 52 week low of $10.03 and a 52 week high of $24.19. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $21.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $19.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $141.22 billion, a PE ratio of 12.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.82.

Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria (NYSE:BBVA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The bank reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $10.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.47 billion. Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria had a net margin of 28.58% and a return on equity of 17.07%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Rathbones Group PLC lifted its holdings in Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria by 4.6% in the second quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 70,175 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,079,000 after buying an additional 3,066 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria by 612.4% during the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 515,444 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,922,000 after buying an additional 443,092 shares during the period. Beck Bode LLC purchased a new stake in Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,342,000. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in shares of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 781,851 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,017,000 after buying an additional 25,148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,773,000. 2.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (NYSE:BBVA) is a Spanish multinational financial services group headquartered in Bilbao, Spain. The bank traces its roots to several historic regional banks and was formed through a series of mergers that consolidated its position as one of Spain’s largest banking groups. BBVA operates as a universal bank offering a broad range of financial services to retail, corporate and institutional clients.

BBVA’s core businesses include retail and commercial banking, corporate and investment banking, private banking and wealth management, asset management, and insurance.