Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) Stock Rating Lowered by Zacks Research

Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) was downgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on BSAC. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Banco Santander Chile from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Banco Santander Chile from $32.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Banco Santander Chile from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings raised Banco Santander Chile from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Citigroup upgraded Banco Santander Chile from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Banco Santander Chile currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.40.

Banco Santander Chile Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:BSAC opened at $35.12 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06. The company has a market capitalization of $16.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.40, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.52. Banco Santander Chile has a 52-week low of $23.71 and a 52-week high of $37.72. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.21.

Banco Santander Chile (NYSE:BSAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 30th. The bank reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter. Banco Santander Chile had a return on equity of 22.94% and a net margin of 27.04%.The firm had revenue of $905.26 million during the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Banco Santander Chile will post 2.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Banco Santander Chile

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. 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 valued at $2,441,000 after purchasing an additional 87,856 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 140.0% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 47,222 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,077,000 after buying an additional 27,549 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Banco Santander Chile in the 1st quarter worth $240,000. Creative Planning raised its position in shares of Banco Santander Chile by 19.1% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 16,854 shares of the bank’s stock worth $425,000 after buying an additional 2,697 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new position in Banco Santander Chile in the second quarter valued at $2,915,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.