Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. Lowers Stake in BBVA Banco Frances S.A. $BBAR

Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lessened its stake in shares of BBVA Banco Frances S.A. (NYSE:BBAR) by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 68,040 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 11,920 shares during the period. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A.’s holdings in BBVA Banco Frances were worth $1,120,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. raised its stake in BBVA Banco Frances by 199.9% in the second quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 2,381 shares of the bank’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 1,587 shares in the last quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in BBVA Banco Frances during the 1st quarter worth about $211,000. Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in BBVA Banco Frances during the first quarter worth about $224,000. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft acquired a new position in BBVA Banco Frances in the first quarter valued at approximately $312,000. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in BBVA Banco Frances in the 1st quarter worth approximately $322,000.

BBVA Banco Frances Stock Performance

Shares of BBVA Banco Frances stock opened at $15.59 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a current ratio of 1.11. BBVA Banco Frances S.A. has a one year low of $7.76 and a one year high of $25.01. The company has a market cap of $3.18 billion, a PE ratio of 11.63 and a beta of 1.19.

BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 20th. The bank reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $524.41 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $727.31 billion. BBVA Banco Frances had a net margin of 6.65% and a return on equity of 10.24%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that BBVA Banco Frances S.A. will post 1.94 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, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 21st will be given a $0.033 dividend. This is a positive change from BBVA Banco Frances’s previous monthly dividend of $0.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 21st. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. BBVA Banco Frances’s payout ratio is 29.10%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of BBVA Banco Frances from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Wall Street Zen cut BBVA Banco Frances from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of BBVA Banco Frances in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. HSBC raised shares of BBVA Banco Frances from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $21.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Citigroup upgraded BBVA Banco Frances from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $20.67.

About BBVA Banco Frances

Banco BBVA Argentina SA provides various banking products and services to individuals and companies in Argentina. The company provides retail banking products and services, such as checking and savings accounts, time deposits, credit cards financing, consumer and pledge loans, mortgages, insurance, and investment products to individuals; and small and medium-sized companies products and services, including financing products, factoring, checking accounts, time deposits, transactional and payroll services, insurance, and investment products to private-sector companies.