Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) Hits New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Shares of Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $22.39 and last traded at $22.42, with a volume of 28925 shares. The stock had previously closed at $22.01.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Banco Santander-Chile Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $10.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.52, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 0.86. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.70.

Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The bank reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) 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 forecast that Banco Santander-Chile will post 2.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Banco Santander-Chile

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 41.3% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in Banco Santander-Chile in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $61,000. Natixis Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Banco Santander-Chile during the third quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Banco Santander-Chile in the 4th quarter worth approximately $232,000. Finally, Sava Infond d.o.o. purchased a new position in Banco Santander-Chile in the 4th quarter worth approximately $245,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 6.42% of the company’s stock.

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.