Short Interest in Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) Decreases By 38.0%

Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 342,900 shares, a drop of 38.0% from the September 15th total of 553,400 shares. Approximately 0.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 254,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.4 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Banco Santander-Chile

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 8.4% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 327,191 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,488,000 after acquiring an additional 25,237 shares in the last quarter. DNB Asset Management AS increased its holdings in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 35.8% during the second quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 166,763 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,140,000 after acquiring an additional 43,949 shares in the last quarter. AGF Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 6.5% during the second quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 402,781 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,584,000 after buying an additional 24,697 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its position in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 900.5% during the second quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 165,285 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,107,000 after buying an additional 148,764 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RWC Asset Management LLP boosted its position in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 60.5% during the second quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 796,552 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $14,999,000 after buying an additional 300,257 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 6.42% of the company’s stock.

Banco Santander-Chile Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of BSAC stock opened at $20.06 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $9.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.20, a PEG ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.60, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a current ratio of 1.82. Banco Santander-Chile has a fifty-two week low of $16.89 and a fifty-two week high of $21.43.

Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The bank reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $599.94 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $693.44 million. Banco Santander-Chile had a net margin of 11.84% and a return on equity of 11.87%. Research analysts forecast that Banco Santander-Chile will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on BSAC shares. Berenberg Bank raised Banco Santander-Chile to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Banco Santander-Chile from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $18.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Banco Santander-Chile from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Banco Santander-Chile currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $20.48.

Banco Santander-Chile Company Profile

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.