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

Banco De Chile (NYSE:BCH)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Friday . The company traded as high as $37.90 and last traded at $37.7150, with a volume of 10333 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $37.35.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BCH has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Banco De Chile from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Banco De Chile from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Wall Street Zen raised Banco De Chile from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Banco De Chile from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Banco De Chile in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.00.

Banco De Chile Stock Up 1.2%

The stock has a market capitalization of $19.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.47, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 1.53. The business has a fifty day moving average of $33.56 and a 200 day moving average of $30.91.

Banco De Chile (NYSE:BCH) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The bank reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $764.93 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $831.97 million. Banco De Chile had a net margin of 32.87% and a return on equity of 23.25%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Banco De Chile will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Banco De Chile

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Banco De Chile by 8,516.3% in the second quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 33,345 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,014,000 after purchasing an additional 32,958 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in Banco De Chile by 53.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 216,950 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,747,000 after buying an additional 75,924 shares during the period. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC grew its stake in shares of Banco De Chile by 185.3% in the second quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 26,095 shares of the bank’s stock worth $794,000 after acquiring an additional 16,948 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Banco De Chile by 276.2% during the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 2,513 shares of the bank’s stock worth $76,000 after acquiring an additional 1,845 shares during the period. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its position in shares of Banco De Chile by 104.6% during the first quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 437,338 shares of the bank’s stock worth $11,054,000 after acquiring an additional 223,565 shares during the period. 1.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Banco De Chile

Banco de Chile, together with its subsidiaries, provides various banking services to customers in Chile. The company offers checking and debit accounts, debit and credit cards, and lines of credit; mortgage, consume, commercial, general purpose mortgage loans, and finance leases; and factoring services, mutual fund management, stock brokerage, foreign trade, payments and collections, insurance brokerage, including life and general insurance, as well as time deposits, savings instruments, and foreign currency services through branches under the Banco de Chile and Banco Edwards brands.