Candriam S.C.A. Purchases Shares of 754,200 Banco Macro S.A. (NYSE:BMA)

Candriam S.C.A. acquired a new position in shares of Banco Macro S.A. (NYSE:BMA) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 754,200 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $43,236,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BMA. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in shares of Banco Macro in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,475,000. LSV Asset Management boosted its holdings in Banco Macro by 11.3% in the first quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 64,000 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,084,000 after acquiring an additional 6,500 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Banco Macro in the first quarter worth about $348,000. Diversify Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in Banco Macro during the 1st quarter worth about $854,000. Finally, Claro Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Banco Macro during the 1st quarter valued at about $260,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Banco Macro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Bank of America raised Banco Macro from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $53.00 to $62.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Banco Macro from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $14.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Friday, August 30th.

Banco Macro Stock Down 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE BMA opened at $62.04 on Friday. Banco Macro S.A. has a 52-week low of $17.30 and a 52-week high of $68.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market cap of $3.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 1.91. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $54.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.33.

Banco Macro (NYSE:BMA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 22nd. The bank reported ($4.01) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($5.50). The firm had revenue of $1.03 billion during the quarter. Banco Macro had a net margin of 12.58% and a return on equity of 25.97%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.69 EPS. Analysts expect that Banco Macro S.A. will post 10.52 EPS for the current year.

Banco Macro Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a monthly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a dividend of $1.798 per share. This is an increase from Banco Macro’s previous monthly dividend of $1.74. This represents a $21.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 34.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Banco Macro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 127.41%.

Banco Macro Profile

Banco Macro SA provides various banking products and services to retail and corporate customers in Argentina. It offers various retail banking products and services, such as savings and checking accounts, time deposits, credit and debit cards, consumer finance loans, mortgage loans, automobile loans, overdrafts, credit-related services, home and car insurance coverage, tax collection, utility payments, automated teller machines (ATMs), and money transfers.