BBVA Banco Frances S.A. (NYSE:BBAR) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of BBVA Banco Frances S.A. (NYSE:BBAR) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $18.50.

BBAR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on BBVA Banco Frances from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of BBVA Banco Frances in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of BBVA Banco Frances from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st.

BBVA Banco Frances Price Performance

NYSE:BBAR opened at $14.05 on Friday. BBVA Banco Frances has a 52 week low of $7.76 and a 52 week high of $22.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 1.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.87 billion, a PE ratio of 17.13 and a beta of 1.02. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $18.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.92.

BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 15th. The bank reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $822.07 million during the quarter. BBVA Banco Frances had a return on equity of 6.27% and a net margin of 3.44%. As a group, equities analysts expect that BBVA Banco Frances will post 1.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BBVA Banco Frances Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a monthly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th were paid a dividend of $0.0131 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. BBVA Banco Frances’s payout ratio is currently 102.44%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. PointState Capital LP boosted its holdings in BBVA Banco Frances by 60.5% in the 4th quarter. PointState Capital LP now owns 2,668,038 shares of the bank’s stock worth $48,211,000 after buying an additional 1,005,978 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of BBVA Banco Frances by 3,633.8% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 613,832 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $11,092,000 after acquiring an additional 597,392 shares in the last quarter. Aquamarine Financial Cayman Ltd boosted its stake in shares of BBVA Banco Frances by 103.8% in the fourth quarter. Aquamarine Financial Cayman Ltd now owns 1,141,305 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,623,000 after acquiring an additional 581,305 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BBVA Banco Frances in the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,042,000. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in shares of BBVA Banco Frances by 9.8% during the second quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 2,021,521 shares of the bank’s stock worth $33,274,000 after purchasing an additional 180,137 shares in the last quarter.

About BBVA Banco Frances

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.