Banco de Chile (NYSE:BCH) Lowered to “Sell” at StockNews.com

Banco de Chile (NYSE:BCH) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued on Thursday.

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Banco de Chile from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th.

Banco de Chile Stock Down 2.8 %

Shares of NYSE:BCH opened at $22.63 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $23.18 and its 200-day moving average is $22.80. Banco de Chile has a 52-week low of $19.20 and a 52-week high of $24.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 1.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97.

Banco de Chile (NYSE:BCH) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The bank reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.02. Banco de Chile had a net margin of 29.41% and a return on equity of 23.65%. The business had revenue of $824.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $818.94 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Banco de Chile will post 2.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Mariner LLC increased its holdings in shares of Banco de Chile by 46.1% in the third quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 26,203 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $529,000 after purchasing an additional 8,265 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Banco de Chile in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,328,000. Alberta Investment Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Banco de Chile in the third quarter valued at approximately $940,000. Advisors Preferred LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Banco de Chile in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $194,000. Finally, Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Banco de Chile by 4.5% in the third quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC now owns 90,058 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,819,000 after purchasing an additional 3,910 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 1.24% of the company’s stock.

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.