Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The bank reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.21, Zacks reports. Banco Santander Chile had a return on equity of 23.14% and a net margin of 27.04%.The company had revenue of $846.54 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $883.40 million.

Banco Santander Chile Price Performance

Banco Santander Chile stock traded down $0.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $34.60. 88,271 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 400,523. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26. The business has a fifty day moving average of $32.59 and a 200 day moving average of $33.20. Banco Santander Chile has a 1-year low of $22.77 and a 1-year high of $37.72. The company has a market capitalization of $16.30 billion, a PE ratio of 13.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.52.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BSAC has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Banco Santander Chile from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Banco Santander Chile in a report on Friday, July 17th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Banco Santander Chile from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Banco Santander Chile from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, July 12th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Banco Santander Chile to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Banco Santander Chile currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.40.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Banco Santander Chile

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in Banco Santander Chile by 221.0% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 271,827 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,457,000 after buying an additional 187,151 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 120.3% in the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 254,585 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,747,000 after acquiring an additional 139,015 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd raised its stake in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 34.8% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 439,613 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $11,087,000 after acquiring an additional 113,408 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 457.1% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 107,076 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,441,000 after acquiring an additional 87,856 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 626,218 shares of the bank’s stock worth $19,482,000 after acquiring an additional 50,191 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 6.42% of the company’s stock.

About Banco Santander Chile

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.