Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) Hits New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $36.66 and last traded at $36.29, with a volume of 543728 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $36.18.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on BSAC shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Banco Santander Chile in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Banco Santander Chile from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Banco Santander Chile from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 30th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Banco Santander Chile from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Citigroup cut shares of Banco Santander Chile from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $27.67.

Banco Santander Chile Stock Up 0.3%

The company has a market cap of $17.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.56. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.51.

Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 17th. The bank reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $740.10 million for the quarter. Banco Santander Chile had a net margin of 24.74% and a return on equity of 22.18%. As a group, analysts predict that Banco Santander Chile will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 199.8% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,511 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 1,007 shares during the period. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Banco Santander Chile in the 4th quarter worth $3,369,000. Yousif Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Banco Santander Chile in the fourth quarter valued at $240,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Banco Santander Chile during the fourth quarter valued at about $345,000. Finally, Tuttle Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Banco Santander Chile during the fourth quarter worth about $211,000. 6.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Banco Santander Chile

Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) is one of the leading financial institutions in Chile and a key component of the global Santander Group. The bank offers a comprehensive range of banking and financial services, including retail and commercial lending, deposit accounts, credit cards, wealth management, insurance products and corporate banking solutions. Headquartered in Santiago, it operates an extensive network of branches, ATMs and digital platforms to serve individual customers, small and medium-sized enterprises and large corporations across the country.

Originally founded as Banco de Santiago in the late 1970s, the institution became part of the Santander Group following the privatization wave in Chile during the late 1980s.