Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) Short Interest Up 15.0% in October

Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) saw a large growth in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 394,400 shares, a growth of 15.0% from the September 30th total of 342,900 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 268,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.5 days. Currently, 0.1% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on BSAC. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Banco Santander-Chile from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $18.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. StockNews.com raised Banco Santander-Chile from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Berenberg Bank upgraded Banco Santander-Chile to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Banco Santander-Chile has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.00.

Banco Santander-Chile Stock Performance

Shares of BSAC stock traded up $0.05 on Thursday, hitting $19.73. The company had a trading volume of 45,245 shares, compared to its average volume of 288,040. Banco Santander-Chile has a twelve month low of $16.89 and a twelve month high of $21.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.60. The firm has a market cap of $9.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $20.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.62.

Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The bank reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $599.94 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $693.44 million. Banco Santander-Chile had a net margin of 11.84% and a return on equity of 11.87%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Banco Santander-Chile will post 1.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Banco Santander-Chile

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in Banco Santander-Chile by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 8,569 shares of the bank’s stock worth $167,000 after buying an additional 815 shares during the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Banco Santander-Chile during the second quarter worth $195,000. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Banco Santander-Chile in the second quarter valued at $248,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 32.3% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 13,021 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $258,000 after buying an additional 3,179 shares during the period. Finally, Banco BTG Pactual S.A. acquired a new position in Banco Santander-Chile during the 1st quarter worth about $285,000. 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.