Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) Lifted to Neutral at The Goldman Sachs Group

Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) was upgraded by investment analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $21.00 target price on the bank’s stock, up from their prior target price of $18.00. The Goldman Sachs Group’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 1.79% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on BSAC. StockNews.com raised Banco Santander-Chile from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Berenberg Bank raised shares of Banco Santander-Chile to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Itau BBA Securities raised shares of Banco Santander-Chile from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $22.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.48.

Banco Santander-Chile Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of BSAC stock opened at $20.63 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.35. Banco Santander-Chile has a 52 week low of $16.89 and a 52 week high of $21.19. The stock has a market cap of $9.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.63, a PEG ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.60.

Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The bank reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.01). Banco Santander-Chile had a return on equity of 11.87% and a net margin of 11.84%. The firm had revenue of $599.94 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $693.44 million. Analysts predict that Banco Santander-Chile will post 1.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Banco Santander-Chile

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in Banco Santander-Chile by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,569 shares of the bank’s stock worth $167,000 after purchasing an additional 815 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 12,957 shares of the bank’s stock worth $253,000 after buying an additional 826 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 115.5% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,683 shares of the bank’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 902 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 50,862 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,009,000 after acquiring an additional 1,182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Banco Santander-Chile by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 17,618 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $343,000 after acquiring an additional 1,551 shares during the period. 6.42% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.