Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria (NYSE:BBVA) Downgraded to “Hold” Rating by Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria (NYSE:BBVA) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on BBVA. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered shares of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of BBVA opened at $21.87 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $126.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.80. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.52. Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria has a 12 month low of $11.59 and a 12 month high of $26.20.

Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria (NYSE:BBVA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The bank reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.50. Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria had a return on equity of 17.29% and a net margin of 28.43%.The firm had revenue of $11.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.74 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria will post 1.59 EPS for the current year.

Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 9th will be issued a $0.7084 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 9th. This represents a yield of 678.0%. Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria’s dividend payout ratio is currently 30.46%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria by 28.0% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 9,288,196 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $142,760,000 after purchasing an additional 2,034,318 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted 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. grew its position in Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria by 2.0% during the third quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 5,755,246 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $110,788,000 after buying an additional 113,250 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria by 6.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,846,150 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $93,288,000 after buying an additional 297,752 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Banco Bilbao Viscaya Argentaria by 1,819.7% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 3,616,734 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $84,306,000 after buying an additional 3,428,336 shares during the last quarter. 2.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.