Grupo Financiero Galicia Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:GGAL)

Grupo Financiero Galicia S.A. (NASDAQ:GGAL) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 9,125 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 338% compared to the average daily volume of 2,082 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Grupo Financiero Galicia

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Grupo Financiero Galicia by 21.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,116,925 shares of the bank’s stock worth $114,188,000 after purchasing an additional 380,643 shares in the last quarter. Aquamarine Financial Cayman Ltd grew its holdings in Grupo Financiero Galicia by 57.9% during the 4th quarter. Aquamarine Financial Cayman Ltd now owns 2,092,309 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $113,133,000 after buying an additional 767,309 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in Grupo Financiero Galicia by 52.2% during the 2nd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,937,465 shares of the bank’s stock worth $97,629,000 after acquiring an additional 664,533 shares during the period. PointState Capital LP raised its position in shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia by 170.6% in the fourth quarter. PointState Capital LP now owns 1,592,990 shares of the bank’s stock worth $85,926,000 after buying an additional 1,004,371 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mak Capital One LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia in the 4th quarter valued at about $72,468,000.

Grupo Financiero Galicia Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GGAL remained flat at $50.37 during midday trading on Friday. 810,422 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,172,977. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $48.52. Grupo Financiero Galicia has a one year low of $25.89 and a one year high of $62.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $8.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.34 and a beta of 1.34.

Grupo Financiero Galicia (NASDAQ:GGAL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 26th. The bank reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $1.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.70 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that Grupo Financiero Galicia will post 3.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Grupo Financiero Galicia Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a monthly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were given a dividend of $0.6229 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 14.8%. Grupo Financiero Galicia’s dividend payout ratio is currently 213.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on GGAL shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Grupo Financiero Galicia in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Wall Street Zen raised Grupo Financiero Galicia from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Grupo Financiero Galicia from $72.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Grupo Financiero Galicia from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.33.

About Grupo Financiero Galicia

Grupo Financiero Galicia is a diversified financial services holding company headquartered in Buenos Aires, Argentina. As one of the country’s largest private-sector financial institutions, the company provides a comprehensive suite of banking, insurance and investment products to individual, small-to-medium enterprise (SME) and corporate clients. Its operations span retail and commercial banking, asset management, leasing, factoring and pension fund administration.

The core banking segment offers deposit and lending services, credit and debit cards, payment solutions and digital banking platforms.