Brokerages Set Banco De Chile (NYSE:BCH) Price Target at $37.00

Banco De Chile (NYSE:BCH) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the five research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation and four have given a hold recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $37.00.

BCH has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group set a $39.00 price target on Banco De Chile and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded Banco De Chile from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Banco De Chile from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th.

Banco De Chile Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BCH opened at $40.31 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.66 and a beta of 0.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 1.49 and a quick ratio of 1.49. Banco De Chile has a 1 year low of $27.08 and a 1 year high of $46.77.

Banco De Chile (NYSE:BCH) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The bank reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter. Banco De Chile had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 29.95%.The firm had revenue of $321.27 million for the quarter. As a group, research analysts predict that Banco De Chile will post 2.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Banco De Chile

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Banco De Chile by 29.5% during the fourth quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 835,782 shares of the bank’s stock worth $31,755,000 after buying an additional 190,567 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its holdings in shares of Banco De Chile by 110.0% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 494,082 shares of the bank’s stock worth $18,775,000 after buying an additional 258,844 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Banco De Chile by 199.1% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 352,465 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,680,000 after buying an additional 234,619 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in shares of Banco De Chile by 177.7% during the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 298,085 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,032,000 after buying an additional 190,741 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Banco De Chile by 53.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 216,950 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,747,000 after buying an additional 75,924 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 1.24% of the company’s stock.

Banco De Chile Company Profile

Banco de Chile (NYSE: BCH) is a leading Chilean financial institution headquartered in Santiago. Founded in 1893, the bank is one of the country’s oldest and most established banking groups, serving a broad spectrum of individual, corporate and institutional clients. It is publicly listed and operates under Chilean banking regulations while participating in international capital markets.

The bank’s core businesses include retail banking, commercial and corporate banking, and investment banking.