Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) Raised to Neutral at Bank of America

Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) was upgraded by research analysts at Bank of America from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report issued on Wednesday,Finviz reports. The firm currently has a $35.00 price target on the bank’s stock. Bank of America‘s target price suggests a potential upside of 4.85% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on BSAC. Itau BBA Securities upgraded Banco Santander Chile from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley set a $38.00 price target on Banco Santander Chile in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Banco Santander Chile from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Banco Santander Chile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Banco Santander Chile in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.50.

Banco Santander Chile Price Performance

BSAC opened at $33.38 on Wednesday. Banco Santander Chile has a one year low of $20.77 and a one year high of $37.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $34.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.51 and a beta of 0.57.

Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 9th. The bank reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter. Banco Santander Chile had a net margin of 24.57% and a return on equity of 21.51%. The firm had revenue of $740.07 million during the quarter. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Banco Santander Chile will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 31.6% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 271,733 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,853,000 after buying an additional 65,264 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH acquired a new stake in shares of Banco Santander Chile in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $597,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in Banco Santander Chile by 200.9% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 832,647 shares of the bank’s stock worth $22,065,000 after acquiring an additional 555,919 shares during the last quarter. INCA Investments LLC increased its stake in Banco Santander Chile by 36.4% in the third quarter. INCA Investments LLC now owns 715,192 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $18,953,000 after purchasing an additional 191,014 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TT International Asset Management LTD acquired a new stake in Banco Santander Chile in the third quarter worth $24,685,000. 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.