BBVA Banco Frances S.A. (NYSE:BBAR) Short Interest Update

BBVA Banco Frances S.A. (NYSE:BBAR) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totaling 1,971,474 shares, a growth of 30.0% from the December 31st total of 1,516,859 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 605,464 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.3 days. Currently, 1.0% of the company’s stock are sold short. Currently, 1.0% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 605,464 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.3 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BBVA Banco Frances

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in BBVA Banco Frances by 66.2% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 24,523 shares of the bank’s stock worth $444,000 after buying an additional 9,764 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BBVA Banco Frances by 17.1% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 93,265 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,690,000 after acquiring an additional 13,594 shares in the last quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of BBVA Banco Frances by 51.8% during the 2nd quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 35,629 shares of the bank’s stock worth $586,000 after acquiring an additional 12,164 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of BBVA Banco Frances by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 333,654 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,492,000 after acquiring an additional 20,286 shares during the period. Finally, GAM Holding AG purchased a new position in shares of BBVA Banco Frances in the 2nd quarter valued at about $743,000.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on BBAR shares. Itau BBA Securities raised BBVA Banco Frances from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of BBVA Banco Frances in a research report on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group began coverage on BBVA Banco Frances in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $18.00 price target for the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded BBVA Banco Frances from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 28th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of BBVA Banco Frances from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.67.

BBVA Banco Frances Stock Performance

NYSE:BBAR traded down $0.06 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $19.92. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 866,068 shares, compared to its average volume of 728,550. BBVA Banco Frances has a fifty-two week low of $7.76 and a fifty-two week high of $23.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market cap of $4.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.97 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $17.95 and its 200-day moving average is $14.63.

BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 25th. The bank reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.07). BBVA Banco Frances had a net margin of 4.46% and a return on equity of 7.43%. The business had revenue of $865.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $871.10 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that BBVA Banco Frances will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BBVA Banco Frances Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a monthly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 22nd were paid a $0.0336 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 22nd. This is a positive change from BBVA Banco Frances’s previous monthly dividend of $0.03. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. BBVA Banco Frances’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 42.11%.

BBVA Banco Frances Company Profile

BBVA Banco Francés is one of Argentina’s leading financial institutions, operating as a subsidiary of the global banking group BBVA. The bank provides a full range of retail and commercial banking services to individuals, small and medium‐sized enterprises, large corporations and institutional clients. Its product suite spans deposit accounts, mortgages, personal and auto loans, credit and debit cards, transactional banking and digital solutions designed to meet the evolving needs of customers in both urban and regional markets.

Founded in Buenos Aires in the late 19th century, Banco Francés has developed a longstanding presence in Argentina’s financial sector.