Banco De Chile (NYSE:BCH) Sets New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Banco De Chile (NYSE:BCH)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $36.80 and last traded at $36.6880, with a volume of 1357 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $36.23.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BCH has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Banco De Chile from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Banco De Chile from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Banco De Chile in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Banco De Chile from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.00.

Banco De Chile Stock Up 0.4%

The firm has a market cap of $18.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.28. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $31.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 1.53 and a quick ratio of 1.53.

Banco De Chile (NYSE:BCH) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The bank reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.62 by ($0.02). Banco De Chile had a net margin of 32.87% and a return on equity of 23.25%. The business had revenue of $675.26 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $831.97 million. Research analysts anticipate that Banco De Chile will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Banco De Chile

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BCH. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. bought a new position in Banco De Chile during the third quarter valued at $288,000. Profund Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Banco De Chile by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 10,443 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $316,000 after purchasing an additional 543 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its position in Banco De Chile by 222.7% in the 3rd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 8,110 shares of the bank’s stock worth $246,000 after purchasing an additional 5,597 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in Banco De Chile in the third quarter worth about $757,000. Finally, Truxt Investmentos Ltda. purchased a new position in shares of Banco De Chile during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,114,000. 1.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Banco De Chile

Banco de Chile, together with its subsidiaries, provides various banking services to customers in Chile. The company offers checking and debit accounts, debit and credit cards, and lines of credit; mortgage, consume, commercial, general purpose mortgage loans, and finance leases; and factoring services, mutual fund management, stock brokerage, foreign trade, payments and collections, insurance brokerage, including life and general insurance, as well as time deposits, savings instruments, and foreign currency services through branches under the Banco de Chile and Banco Edwards brands.