Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Zacks Research

Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) was upgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on BSAC. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Banco Santander Chile to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Banco Santander Chile in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Banco Santander Chile from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Banco Santander Chile from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Banco Santander Chile from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.40.

Banco Santander Chile Trading Up 2.4%

Banco Santander Chile stock opened at $35.02 on Wednesday. Banco Santander Chile has a 12-month low of $22.77 and a 12-month high of $37.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.50 billion, a PE ratio of 13.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.52. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.20.

Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The bank reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $905.26 million for the quarter. Banco Santander Chile had a net margin of 27.04% and a return on equity of 23.14%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Banco Santander Chile will post 2.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Banco Santander Chile

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BSAC. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. bought a new position in shares of Banco Santander Chile in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,369,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new stake in shares of Banco Santander Chile in the first quarter worth $1,886,000. INCA Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 18.8% during the 1st quarter. INCA Investments LLC now owns 1,263,892 shares of the bank’s stock worth $42,214,000 after buying an additional 199,618 shares during the period. Banco BTG Pactual S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Banco Santander Chile during the 4th quarter worth $809,000. Finally, UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 69.4% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 78,855 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,453,000 after buying an additional 32,297 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 6.42% of the company’s stock.

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.