BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR) Research Coverage Started at UBS Group

UBS Group began coverage on shares of BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR) in a report issued on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued a hold rating and a $18.00 price objective on the bank’s stock.

BBAR has been the topic of a number of other reports. Hsbc Global Res raised BBVA Banco Frances to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of BBVA Banco Frances in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Itau BBA Securities raised shares of BBVA Banco Frances from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of BBVA Banco Frances to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of BBVA Banco Frances from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.00.

BBVA Banco Frances Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BBAR opened at $13.94 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.85 billion, a PE ratio of 10.40 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $11.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.85. BBVA Banco Frances has a twelve month low of $7.76 and a twelve month high of $25.01.

BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 20th. The bank reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $524.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $727.31 billion. BBVA Banco Frances had a net margin of 6.65% and a return on equity of 10.24%. Equities research analysts expect that BBVA Banco Frances will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

BBVA Banco Frances Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 21st will be issued a $0.033 dividend. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. This is a positive change from BBVA Banco Frances’s previous monthly dividend of $0.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 21st. BBVA Banco Frances’s payout ratio is presently 29.10%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BBVA Banco Frances

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in shares of BBVA Banco Frances during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $224,000. XTX Topco Ltd raised its stake in BBVA Banco Frances by 97.3% during the first quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 32,603 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $591,000 after purchasing an additional 16,082 shares in the last quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft bought a new position in BBVA Banco Frances during the first quarter valued at $312,000. Gemsstock Ltd. grew its stake in shares of BBVA Banco Frances by 62.5% in the 1st quarter. Gemsstock Ltd. now owns 241,274 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,372,000 after buying an additional 92,758 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fox Run Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of BBVA Banco Frances during the 1st quarter valued at about $211,000.

About BBVA Banco Frances

Banco BBVA Argentina SA provides various banking products and services to individuals and companies in Argentina. The company provides retail banking products and services, such as checking and savings accounts, time deposits, credit cards financing, consumer and pledge loans, mortgages, insurance, and investment products to individuals; and small and medium-sized companies products and services, including financing products, factoring, checking accounts, time deposits, transactional and payroll services, insurance, and investment products to private-sector companies.