Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.19 EPS

Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The bank reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.19, Zacks reports. Banco Santander Chile had a return on equity of 21.00% and a net margin of 24.95%.

Banco Santander Chile Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BSAC traded up $0.39 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $34.33. The company had a trading volume of 139,152 shares, compared to its average volume of 401,203. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.17. Banco Santander Chile has a fifty-two week low of $22.77 and a fifty-two week high of $37.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on BSAC shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Banco Santander Chile in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Banco Santander Chile from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $35.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Banco Santander Chile from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Citigroup upgraded shares of Banco Santander Chile from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Banco Santander Chile from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, July 12th. One investment analyst has 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.40.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Corient Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Banco Santander Chile in the 4th quarter valued at about $292,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Banco Santander Chile by 18.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,551 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,355,000 after buying an additional 6,745 shares in the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC increased its stake in Banco Santander Chile by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 32,634 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,015,000 after buying an additional 2,007 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 221.0% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 271,827 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,457,000 after acquiring an additional 187,151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Laird Norton Wetherby Trust Company LLC acquired a new position in shares of Banco Santander Chile during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $531,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 6.42% of the company’s stock.

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.