Grupo Financiero Galicia (NASDAQ:GGAL) Stock Price Up 7.9% – Here’s Why

Grupo Financiero Galicia S.A. (NASDAQ:GGAL) shares rose 7.9% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $53.67 and last traded at $53.5340. Approximately 870,049 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 28% from the average daily volume of 1,201,038 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.62.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GGAL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Grupo Financiero Galicia from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 23rd. Zacks Research upgraded Grupo Financiero Galicia from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Grupo Financiero Galicia from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia in a research note on Friday, March 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Grupo Financiero Galicia has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $64.00.

Grupo Financiero Galicia Trading Down 0.5%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 1.16. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $46.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 1.32.

Grupo Financiero Galicia (NASDAQ:GGAL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 26th. The bank reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.07). Grupo Financiero Galicia had a net margin of 7.13% and a return on equity of 18.96%. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Grupo Financiero Galicia S.A. will post 3.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Grupo Financiero Galicia Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a monthly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th were given a dividend of $0.6229 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 13.6%. Grupo Financiero Galicia’s payout ratio is currently 214.10%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Grupo Financiero Galicia

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia by 1.9% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 11,824 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $596,000 after buying an additional 226 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia by 0.7% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 54,525 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,748,000 after buying an additional 362 shares during the period. Deltec Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia by 1.6% during the first quarter. Deltec Asset Management LLC now owns 25,900 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,210,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia by 131.6% during the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 938 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 533 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia by 1.0% during the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 65,810 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,814,000 after buying an additional 677 shares during the period.

Grupo Financiero Galicia Company Profile

Grupo Financiero Galicia is a diversified financial services holding company headquartered in Buenos Aires, Argentina. As one of the country’s largest private-sector financial institutions, the company provides a comprehensive suite of banking, insurance and investment products to individual, small-to-medium enterprise (SME) and corporate clients. Its operations span retail and commercial banking, asset management, leasing, factoring and pension fund administration.

The core banking segment offers deposit and lending services, credit and debit cards, payment solutions and digital banking platforms.