Zacks Research Upgrades Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) to “Strong-Buy”

Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Bank of America raised Banco Santander Chile from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Banco Santander Chile from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Banco Santander Chile from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Banco Santander Chile in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Banco Santander Chile from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.40.

Banco Santander Chile Stock Up 2.4%

NYSE BSAC opened at $35.02 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $32.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.50 billion, a PE ratio of 13.37, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.52. Banco Santander Chile has a fifty-two week low of $22.77 and a fifty-two week high of $37.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.48.

Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, June 30th. The bank reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $905.26 million during the quarter. Banco Santander Chile had a return on equity of 23.14% and a net margin of 27.04%. Equities analysts expect that Banco Santander Chile will post 2.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Banco Santander Chile

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. acquired a new position in Banco Santander Chile during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,369,000. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda acquired a new position in shares of Banco Santander Chile during the first quarter worth approximately $1,886,000. INCA Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 18.8% in the 1st quarter. INCA Investments LLC now owns 1,263,892 shares of the bank’s stock worth $42,214,000 after purchasing an additional 199,618 shares in the last quarter. Banco BTG Pactual S.A. bought a new position in shares of Banco Santander Chile in the 4th quarter worth $809,000. Finally, UBS Group AG grew its position in Banco Santander Chile by 69.4% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 78,855 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,453,000 after purchasing an additional 32,297 shares during the period. 6.42% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Banco Santander Chile Company Profile

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.