BBVA Banco Frances S.A. (NYSE:BBAR) Stock Short Interest Falls 56.3%

BBVA Banco Frances S.A. (NYSE:BBAR) saw a significant decline in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totaling 479,727 shares, a decline of 56.3% from the August 31st total of 1,098,660 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 649,468 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.7 days. Currently, 0.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on BBAR. Citigroup downgraded BBVA Banco Frances from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Weiss Ratings lowered BBVA Banco Frances from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, September 14th. UBS Group raised their price objective on BBVA Banco Frances from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BBVA Banco Frances from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BBVA Banco Frances presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $18.50.

BBVA Banco Frances Trading Down 0.2%

BBAR traded down $0.03 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $12.53. 557,776 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 519,154. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.28 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $15.75 and a 200 day moving average of $16.56. BBVA Banco Frances has a 12-month low of $7.76 and a 12-month high of $22.47.

BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 14th. The bank reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter. BBVA Banco Frances had a return on equity of 7.56% and a net margin of 4.16%.The firm had revenue of $716.56 million for the quarter. Equities research analysts anticipate that BBVA Banco Frances will post 1.71 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BBVA Banco Frances

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BBAR. Alpine Global Management LLC bought a new stake in BBVA Banco Frances during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,042,000. Fourth Sail Capital LP increased its holdings in BBVA Banco Frances by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Fourth Sail Capital LP now owns 2,847,061 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $51,446,000 after buying an additional 177,799 shares during the last quarter. Channing Global Advisors LLC bought a new position in BBVA Banco Frances in the fourth quarter worth approximately $507,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of BBVA Banco Frances during the 2nd quarter worth $311,000. Finally, Banco BTG Pactual S.A. purchased a new position in shares of BBVA Banco Frances during the 4th quarter worth $266,000.

About BBVA Banco Frances

BBVA Banco Francés, now operating as BBVA Argentina SA under the BBVA brand, is a banking institution serving individuals, businesses and corporate customers in Argentina. It is part of the Spanish BBVA Group, a global financial services organization.

The bank provides a range of retail and commercial banking products, including deposit accounts, personal and business loans, credit and debit cards, payment services, insurance and investment-related services. It also offers digital banking channels and financial solutions for companies and institutional clients.

The institution traces its history to Banco Francés del Río de la Plata, founded in Argentina in 1886.