Banco de Chile (NYSE:BCH) Raised to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Banco de Chile (NYSE:BCH) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Friday.

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Banco de Chile from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th.

Banco de Chile Stock Performance

BCH opened at $22.63 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $23.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a current ratio of 1.48 and a quick ratio of 1.48. Banco de Chile has a 1 year low of $19.20 and a 1 year high of $24.79.

Banco de Chile (NYSE:BCH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The bank reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $824.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $818.94 million. Banco de Chile had a return on equity of 23.65% and a net margin of 29.41%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Banco de Chile will post 2.18 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Banco de Chile

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Banco de Chile by 24.8% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 7,926 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $160,000 after purchasing an additional 1,573 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in Banco de Chile by 30.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 418,556 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,455,000 after acquiring an additional 97,601 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC boosted its holdings in Banco de Chile by 46.1% during the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 26,203 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $529,000 after acquiring an additional 8,265 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Banco de Chile by 14.1% in the third quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 11,691 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $236,000 after purchasing an additional 1,449 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Banco de Chile by 3.2% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 29,450 shares of the bank’s stock worth $594,000 after purchasing an additional 926 shares during the period. 1.24% of the stock is currently 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.