Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) Lowered to “Sell” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Tuesday morning.

Separately, Bank of America lowered shares of Banco Santander-Chile from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $24.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $22.33.

Banco Santander-Chile Stock Performance

BSAC opened at $24.65 on Tuesday. Banco Santander-Chile has a 12-month low of $18.19 and a 12-month high of $24.94. The company has a market cap of $11.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.71, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.70. The company’s 50 day moving average is $23.19 and its 200 day moving average is $21.07.

Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The bank reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.06. Banco Santander-Chile had a return on equity of 19.15% and a net margin of 19.16%. The firm had revenue of $767.62 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $717.38 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Banco Santander-Chile will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.

Banco Santander-Chile Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 6th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 23rd were paid a dividend of $1.349 per share. This represents a yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 23rd. This is an increase from Banco Santander-Chile’s previous annual dividend of $1.25. Banco Santander-Chile’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.23%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cardinal Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 0.5% in the first quarter. Cardinal Capital Management now owns 99,099 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,259,000 after buying an additional 472 shares during the period. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in Banco Santander-Chile by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 7,897 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $149,000 after acquiring an additional 863 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Banco Santander-Chile by 41.3% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 3,089 shares of the bank’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 903 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its position in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 54,450.0% during the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,091 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 492,868 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,295,000 after purchasing an additional 1,307 shares during the period. 6.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Banco Santander-Chile

Banco Santander-Chile, together with its subsidiaries, provides commercial and retail banking services in Chile. It operates through Retail Banking, Middle-Market, Corporate Investment Banking, and Corporate Activities segments. The company offers debit and credit cards, checking accounts, and savings products; consumer, automobile, commercial, mortgage, and government-guaranteed loans; and Chilean peso and foreign currency-denominated loans to finance various commercial transactions, trade, foreign currency forward contracts, and credit lines, as well as mortgage financing services.