Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 733,300 shares, an increase of 33.7% from the February 13th total of 548,400 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 230,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.2 days. Currently, 0.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Natixis Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Banco Santander-Chile in the 3rd quarter valued at $212,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in Banco Santander-Chile in the third quarter valued at about $461,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in Banco Santander-Chile by 9.9% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 233,454 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,847,000 after buying an additional 20,966 shares in the last quarter. Mirabella Financial Services LLP bought a new position in Banco Santander-Chile in the third quarter valued at about $700,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its stake in Banco Santander-Chile by 79.6% during the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 296,922 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,164,000 after acquiring an additional 131,637 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 6.42% of the company’s stock.

Banco Santander-Chile Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:BSAC traded down $0.29 on Tuesday, reaching $23.18. 137,939 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 267,820. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.70. Banco Santander-Chile has a twelve month low of $17.73 and a twelve month high of $23.60. The company has a fifty day moving average of $21.06 and a 200-day moving average of $20.17. The company has a market capitalization of $10.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.96, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.83.

Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The bank reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.05). Banco Santander-Chile had a return on equity of 19.15% and a net margin of 19.16%. On average, research analysts predict that Banco Santander-Chile will post 2.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Bank of America lowered Banco Santander-Chile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $22.00 to $21.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.33.

Banco Santander-Chile Company Profile

Banco Santander-Chile, together with its subsidiaries, provides commercial and retail banking services in Chile. It operates through Retail Banking, Middle-Market, Corporate Investment Banking, and Corporate Activities segments. The company offers debit and credit cards, checking accounts, and savings products; consumer, automobile, commercial, mortgage, and government-guaranteed loans; and Chilean peso and foreign currency-denominated loans to finance various commercial transactions, trade, foreign currency forward contracts, and credit lines, as well as mortgage financing services.