UBS Group AG Grows Stock Holdings in Banco De Chile $BCH

UBS Group AG grew its position in shares of Banco De Chile (NYSE:BCH) by 110.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 494,082 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 258,844 shares during the period. UBS Group AG’s holdings in Banco De Chile were worth $18,775,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BCH. Aubrey Capital Management Ltd bought a new position in Banco De Chile during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,227,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH purchased a new position in shares of Banco De Chile during the third quarter valued at approximately $757,000. Truxt Investmentos Ltda. bought a new position in shares of Banco De Chile during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,114,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Banco De Chile in the third quarter valued at $492,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans bought a new stake in Banco De Chile in the third quarter valued at $1,116,000. 1.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on BCH. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Banco De Chile from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. UBS Group set a $48.00 target price on shares of Banco De Chile and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Zacks Research raised shares of Banco De Chile from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Banco De Chile in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut Banco De Chile from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $36.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Banco De Chile currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $40.00.

Banco De Chile Price Performance

BCH opened at $35.43 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The company has a market cap of $17.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.64 and a beta of 0.24. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.98. Banco De Chile has a 12-month low of $27.08 and a 12-month high of $46.77.

Banco De Chile (NYSE:BCH) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The bank reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $321.27 million for the quarter. Banco De Chile had a net margin of 29.95% and a return on equity of 19.47%. Research analysts predict that Banco De Chile will post 2.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Banco De Chile Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a special dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 30th were paid a dividend of $2.1877 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 30th. Banco De Chile’s payout ratio is presently 68.18%.

Banco De Chile Profile

Banco de Chile (NYSE: BCH) is a leading Chilean financial institution headquartered in Santiago. Founded in 1893, the bank is one of the country’s oldest and most established banking groups, serving a broad spectrum of individual, corporate and institutional clients. It is publicly listed and operates under Chilean banking regulations while participating in international capital markets.

The bank’s core businesses include retail banking, commercial and corporate banking, and investment banking.