Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Decreases Holdings in Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria S.A. $BBVA

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lowered its stake in Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria S.A. (NYSE:BBVA) by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,075,288 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 623,526 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned 0.17% of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria worth $234,855,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria by 28.0% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,288,196 shares of the bank’s stock worth $142,760,000 after buying an additional 2,034,318 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria by 0.6% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,616,619 shares of the bank’s stock worth $125,914,000 after buying an additional 40,320 shares during the last quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria by 2.0% in the third quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 5,755,246 shares of the bank’s stock worth $110,788,000 after buying an additional 113,250 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria by 6.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,846,150 shares of the bank’s stock worth $93,288,000 after buying an additional 297,752 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria by 23.4% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,248,176 shares of the bank’s stock worth $62,527,000 after buying an additional 615,985 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 2.96% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Zacks Research cut shares of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Barclays cut shares of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria Stock Performance

BBVA stock opened at $22.22 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $126.82 billion, a PE ratio of 10.58, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.81. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $22.33 and its 200 day moving average is $22.69. Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria S.A. has a one year low of $14.63 and a one year high of $26.20.

Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria (NYSE:BBVA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The bank reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $12.33 billion for the quarter. Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria had a net margin of 28.21% and a return on equity of 17.65%. Research analysts predict that Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria S.A. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (NYSE:BBVA) is a Spanish multinational financial services group headquartered in Bilbao, Spain. The bank traces its roots to several historic regional banks and was formed through a series of mergers that consolidated its position as one of Spain’s largest banking groups. BBVA operates as a universal bank offering a broad range of financial services to retail, corporate and institutional clients.

BBVA’s core businesses include retail and commercial banking, corporate and investment banking, private banking and wealth management, asset management, and insurance.