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

Banco Santander-Chile (NYSE:BSAC) saw a large decrease in short interest in 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. Approximately 0.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 266,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Banco Santander-Chile Price Performance

Shares of Banco Santander-Chile stock traded down $0.36 during trading on Monday, reaching $22.79. 253,069 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 277,504. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.70, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 1.79. Banco Santander-Chile has a 1-year low of $17.73 and a 1-year high of $24.24. The company has a market cap of $10.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.75, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $21.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.37.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Bank of America cut shares of Banco Santander-Chile from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $22.00 to $21.00 in a research 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.33.

Institutional Trading of Banco Santander-Chile

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BSAC. Natixis Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Banco Santander-Chile during the 3rd quarter valued at $212,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 79.6% during the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 296,922 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,164,000 after purchasing an additional 131,637 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Banco Santander-Chile during the third quarter worth about $902,000. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Banco Santander-Chile by 25.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 293,049 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $6,084,000 after buying an additional 59,215 shares during the period. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC bought a new position in Banco Santander-Chile in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $527,000. 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.