Grupo Financiero Galicia (NASDAQ:GGAL) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Here’s Why

Grupo Financiero Galicia S.A. (NASDAQ:GGAL) shares saw strong trading volume on Wednesday . 2,261,155 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 92% from the previous session’s volume of 1,177,987 shares.The stock last traded at $47.6970 and had previously closed at $45.91.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on GGAL shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia in a report on Friday, March 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $64.00.

Grupo Financiero Galicia Stock Up 4.0%

The company has a market capitalization of $8.16 billion, a PE ratio of 25.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.44.

Grupo Financiero Galicia (NASDAQ:GGAL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 26th. The bank reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.07). Grupo Financiero Galicia had a net margin of 7.13% and a return on equity of 18.96%. The business had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.70 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Grupo Financiero Galicia S.A. will post 3.69 EPS for the current year.

Grupo Financiero Galicia Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a monthly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were given a dividend of $0.6229 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 14.7%. Grupo Financiero Galicia’s dividend payout ratio is presently 347.47%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Grupo Financiero Galicia

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Amundi boosted its position in shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia by 11.9% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 149,789 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,997,000 after acquiring an additional 15,962 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia by 9.1% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 44,531 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,080,000 after acquiring an additional 3,729 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia by 4.8% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 165,572 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,734,000 after acquiring an additional 7,603 shares during the period. Turim 21 Investimentos Ltda. boosted its position in shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia by 74.4% in the first quarter. Turim 21 Investimentos Ltda. now owns 41,586 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,942,000 after acquiring an additional 17,746 shares during the period. Finally, Absolute Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. bought a new stake in shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia in the first quarter valued at approximately $7,879,000.

Grupo Financiero Galicia Company Profile

Grupo Financiero Galicia is a diversified financial services holding company headquartered in Buenos Aires, Argentina. As one of the country’s largest private-sector financial institutions, the company provides a comprehensive suite of banking, insurance and investment products to individual, small-to-medium enterprise (SME) and corporate clients. Its operations span retail and commercial banking, asset management, leasing, factoring and pension fund administration.

The core banking segment offers deposit and lending services, credit and debit cards, payment solutions and digital banking platforms.