Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $33.59 and last traded at $33.5410, with a volume of 24707 shares. The stock had previously closed at $32.92.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BSAC has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Banco Santander Chile from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Banco Santander Chile from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Banco Santander Chile from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Banco Santander Chile in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup cut Banco Santander Chile from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Banco Santander Chile presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $27.67.

Banco Santander Chile Stock Up 2.6%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.51, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $27.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.56.

Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 17th. The bank reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $740.10 million for the quarter. Banco Santander Chile had a net margin of 24.74% and a return on equity of 22.18%. As a group, research analysts expect that Banco Santander Chile will post 2.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Banco Santander Chile

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 31.6% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 271,733 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,853,000 after purchasing an additional 65,264 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 555,919 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 462,111.1% during the 2nd quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 124,797 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,147,000 after buying an additional 124,770 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Banco Santander Chile in the 2nd quarter valued at $983,000. Finally, Savant Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Banco Santander Chile during the 2nd quarter valued at $226,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.