Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Sell”

Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report released on Tuesday.

Separately, Bank of America downgraded Banco Santander-Chile from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $24.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.33.

Banco Santander-Chile Price Performance

NYSE:BSAC opened at $24.97 on Tuesday. Banco Santander-Chile has a 52 week low of $18.19 and a 52 week high of $25.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.70. The company has a market capitalization of $11.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $23.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.12.

Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The bank reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $767.62 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $717.38 billion. Banco Santander-Chile had a return on equity of 19.15% and a net margin of 19.16%. Equities analysts expect that Banco Santander-Chile will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BSAC. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Banco Santander-Chile in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $364,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 18,415 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $382,000 after purchasing an additional 1,831 shares during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Banco Santander-Chile in the fourth quarter valued at about $61,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its holdings in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 42.6% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 126,092 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,378,000 after acquiring an additional 37,660 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 41.3% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 3,089 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 903 shares in the last quarter. 6.42% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Banco Santander-Chile

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.