Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) Hits New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $23.80 and last traded at $23.53, with a volume of 14277 shares. The stock had previously closed at $23.57.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Bank of America downgraded Banco Santander-Chile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $22.00 to $21.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.33.

Banco Santander-Chile Trading Down 0.2 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.70. The stock has a market cap of $11.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.83. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.34.

Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The bank reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.05). Banco Santander-Chile had a net margin of 19.16% and a return on equity of 19.15%. As a group, analysts expect that Banco Santander-Chile will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Banco Santander-Chile

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in BSAC. Natixis Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Banco Santander-Chile during the 3rd quarter worth about $212,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its stake in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 79.6% during the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 296,922 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,164,000 after buying an additional 131,637 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Banco Santander-Chile in the third quarter valued at approximately $902,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Banco Santander-Chile by 25.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 293,049 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,084,000 after acquiring an additional 59,215 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC bought a new position in Banco Santander-Chile in the third quarter valued at approximately $527,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 6.42% of the company’s stock.

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.