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

BBVA Banco Frances S.A. (NYSE:BBAR) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, two have issued a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $17.6667.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of BBVA Banco Frances in a research report on Monday, December 29th.

Institutional Trading of BBVA Banco Frances

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of BBVA Banco Frances by 54,175.0% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,171 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 2,167 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of BBVA Banco Frances during the 3rd quarter valued at $108,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BBVA Banco Frances during the 3rd quarter valued at $109,000. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BBVA Banco Frances during the 3rd quarter valued at $136,000. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp purchased a new stake in shares of BBVA Banco Frances during the 4th quarter valued at $150,000.

BBVA Banco Frances Stock Down 6.8%

Shares of NYSE BBAR opened at $14.46 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.95 billion, a PE ratio of 17.43 and a beta of 1.07. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $15.74. BBVA Banco Frances has a 12-month low of $7.76 and a 12-month high of $23.10.

BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 4th. The bank reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $337.36 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $874.92 billion. BBVA Banco Frances had a net margin of 3.70% and a return on equity of 6.55%. As a group, analysts expect that BBVA Banco Frances will post 1.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BBVA Banco Frances Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 20th will be given a dividend of $0.0382 per share. This is a boost from BBVA Banco Frances’s previous monthly dividend of $0.04. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 20th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. BBVA Banco Frances’s payout ratio is 54.22%.

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.