Brokerages Set BBVA Banco Frances S.A. (NYSE:BBAR) Price Target at $17.67

BBVA Banco Frances S.A. (NYSE:BBAR) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eight brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $17.6667.

BBAR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen raised BBVA Banco Frances from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 28th. Citigroup upgraded BBVA Banco Frances from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Itau BBA Securities upgraded BBVA Banco Frances from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of BBVA Banco Frances in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $18.00 target price on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of BBVA Banco Frances to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th.

BBVA Banco Frances Price Performance

NYSE:BBAR opened at $18.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The company has a 50-day moving average of $16.78 and a 200-day moving average of $14.25. BBVA Banco Frances has a 52 week low of $7.76 and a 52 week high of $23.90. The company has a market capitalization of $3.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.91 and a beta of 1.08.

BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 25th. The bank reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.20 by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $865.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $871.10 billion. BBVA Banco Frances had a return on equity of 7.43% and a net margin of 4.46%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that BBVA Banco Frances will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BBVA Banco Frances Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 23rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 16th were given a $0.0331 dividend. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. This is a boost from BBVA Banco Frances’s previous monthly dividend of $0.03. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 16th. BBVA Banco Frances’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.05%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in BBVA Banco Frances by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 52,270 shares of the bank’s stock worth $860,000 after acquiring an additional 1,278 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. raised its position in BBVA Banco Frances by 199.9% in the 2nd quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 2,381 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 1,587 shares during the last quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC boosted its stake in BBVA Banco Frances by 10.9% in the third quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 39,519 shares of the bank’s stock worth $329,000 after purchasing an additional 3,890 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BBVA Banco Frances by 42.7% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 26,071 shares of the bank’s stock worth $217,000 after purchasing an additional 7,803 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of BBVA Banco Frances by 123.3% in the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 15,301 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $252,000 after buying an additional 8,450 shares in the last quarter.

About BBVA Banco Frances

BBVA Banco Francés is one of Argentina’s leading financial institutions, operating as a subsidiary of the global banking group BBVA. The bank provides a full range of retail and commercial banking services to individuals, small and medium‐sized enterprises, large corporations and institutional clients. Its product suite spans deposit accounts, mortgages, personal and auto loans, credit and debit cards, transactional banking and digital solutions designed to meet the evolving needs of customers in both urban and regional markets.

Founded in Buenos Aires in the late 19th century, Banco Francés has developed a longstanding presence in Argentina’s financial sector.