BBVA Banco Frances (NYSE:BBAR) Stock Price Up 8% – What’s Next?

Shares of BBVA Banco Frances S.A. (NYSE:BBAR) were up 8% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $15.53 and last traded at $15.5260. Approximately 655,160 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 32% from the average daily volume of 960,072 shares. The stock had previously closed at $14.38.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BBAR. Citigroup upgraded BBVA Banco Frances from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group raised BBVA Banco Frances to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of BBVA Banco Frances from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 15th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of BBVA Banco Frances in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of BBVA Banco Frances from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.00.

BBVA Banco Frances Price Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $11.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $14.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The company has a market cap of $3.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.63 and a beta of 1.19.

BBVA Banco Frances Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.033 per share. 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. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. BBVA Banco Frances’s payout ratio is presently 29.10%.

Institutional Trading of BBVA Banco Frances

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of BBVA Banco Frances by 199.9% in the second quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 2,381 shares of the bank’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,587 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in BBVA Banco Frances during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $108,000. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of BBVA Banco Frances in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $109,000. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of BBVA Banco Frances during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $136,000. Finally, Fox Run Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of BBVA Banco Frances during the first quarter worth approximately $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.