UBS Group Begins Coverage on BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR)

Investment analysts at UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR) in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage set a “neutral” rating and a $18.00 price target on the bank’s stock. UBS Group’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 15.02% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on BBAR. Citigroup raised shares of BBVA Banco Frances from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Itau BBA Securities upgraded shares of BBVA Banco Frances from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of BBVA Banco Frances from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. HSBC raised shares of BBVA Banco Frances from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $21.00 to $17.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded BBVA Banco Frances to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, BBVA Banco Frances has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $20.00.

BBVA Banco Frances Price Performance

BBAR stock traded up $0.25 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $15.65. 76,976 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 960,885. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. BBVA Banco Frances has a 12-month low of $7.76 and a 12-month high of $25.01. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $11.40 and its 200 day moving average is $14.88. The company has a market cap of $3.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.74 and a beta of 1.19.

BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 20th. The bank reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.13). BBVA Banco Frances had a return on equity of 10.24% and a net margin of 6.65%.The company had revenue of $524.41 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $727.31 billion. On average, research analysts expect that BBVA Banco Frances will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in BBVA Banco Frances by 199.9% during the 2nd quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 2,381 shares of the bank’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,587 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in BBVA Banco Frances in the third quarter valued at approximately $108,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in BBVA Banco Frances in the third quarter valued at approximately $109,000. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in BBVA Banco Frances during the third quarter worth approximately $136,000. Finally, Fox Run Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of BBVA Banco Frances in the 1st quarter valued at $211,000.

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.