Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) Short Interest Down 27.8% in March

Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 529,700 shares, a decrease of 27.8% from the February 28th total of 733,300 shares. Currently, 0.1% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 266,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 2.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,927,417 shares of the bank’s stock worth $81,533,000 after purchasing an additional 75,888 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Banco Santander-Chile by 25.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 293,049 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,084,000 after buying an additional 59,215 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new position in Banco Santander-Chile during the third quarter worth about $527,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Banco Santander-Chile by 1.1% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,164,490 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $63,859,000 after acquiring an additional 33,291 shares during the period. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 42.6% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 126,092 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,378,000 after acquiring an additional 37,660 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 6.42% of the company’s stock.

Banco Santander-Chile Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of BSAC stock traded up $0.64 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $23.44. The company had a trading volume of 341,624 shares, compared to its average volume of 277,731. Banco Santander-Chile has a 1-year low of $17.73 and a 1-year high of $23.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.70, a current ratio of 1.79 and a quick ratio of 1.79. The firm has a market cap of $11.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a 50 day moving average of $21.94 and a 200 day moving average of $20.39.

Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The bank reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.05). Banco Santander-Chile had a net margin of 19.16% and a return on equity of 19.15%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Banco Santander-Chile will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.