Banco Bradesco S.A. (NYSE:BBD) Short Interest Up 127.8% in December

Banco Bradesco S.A. (NYSE:BBD) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 84,850,000 shares, a growth of 127.8% from the November 30th total of 37,250,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 33,540,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.5 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Banco Bradesco by 152.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 274,790 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $731,000 after acquiring an additional 166,008 shares during the period. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda lifted its holdings in shares of Banco Bradesco by 217.0% during the 3rd quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda now owns 3,608,320 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,598,000 after acquiring an additional 2,470,135 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Banco Bradesco by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 44,989,586 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $120,122,000 after acquiring an additional 1,139,470 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in Banco Bradesco in the third quarter valued at about $1,590,000. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Banco Bradesco in the third quarter worth about $404,000.

Banco Bradesco Price Performance

NYSE BBD opened at $1.90 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $20.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.32 and a beta of 0.94. Banco Bradesco has a 1 year low of $1.84 and a 1 year high of $3.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $2.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.44.

Banco Bradesco (NYSE:BBD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The bank reported $0.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.01. Banco Bradesco had a return on equity of 10.17% and a net margin of 7.43%. The company had revenue of $9.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.62 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Banco Bradesco will post 0.33 EPS for the current year.

Banco Bradesco Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a — dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.0362 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a dividend yield of 6.2%. Banco Bradesco’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.54%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Banco Bradesco from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th.

About Banco Bradesco

Banco Bradesco SA, together with its subsidiaries, provides various banking products and services to individuals, corporates, and businesses in Brazil and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Banking and Insurance. It provides current, savings, click, and salary accounts; real estate credit, vehicle financing, payroll loans, mortgage loans, microcredit, leasing, and personal and installment credit; overdraft and agribusiness loans; debit and business cards; financial and security services; consortium products; car, personal accident, dental, travel, and life insurance; investment products; pension products; foreign currency exchange services; capitalization bonds; and internet banking services.