Banco Macro S.A. (NYSE:BMA) Short Interest Up 16.5% in July

Banco Macro S.A. (NYSE:BMA) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,030,000 shares, a growth of 16.5% from the July 15th total of 884,000 shares. Currently, 1.6% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 332,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.1 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Banco Macro

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in shares of Banco Macro in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,475,000. LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of Banco Macro by 11.3% during the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 64,000 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,084,000 after acquiring an additional 6,500 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Banco Macro in the 1st quarter worth approximately $348,000. Glenorchy Capital Ltd purchased a new position in Banco Macro in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,217,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Banco Macro in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,462,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BMA. Bank of America upgraded shares of Banco Macro from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $53.00 to $62.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com cut Banco Macro from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th.

Banco Macro Stock Performance

NYSE BMA traded down $0.86 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $56.59. 305,481 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 371,121. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. The company has a market cap of $3.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.91. Banco Macro has a 12-month low of $17.30 and a 12-month high of $68.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $55.16 and a 200 day moving average of $50.79.

Banco Macro (NYSE:BMA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 23rd. The bank reported $5.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.19 by $2.83. The company had revenue of $1.87 billion for the quarter. Banco Macro had a return on equity of 37.91% and a net margin of 16.33%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Banco Macro will post 11.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Banco Macro Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 23rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a $1.798 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $21.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 38.13%. This is an increase from Banco Macro’s previous monthly dividend of $1.74. Banco Macro’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 127.41%.

Banco Macro Company Profile

Banco Macro SA provides various banking products and services to retail and corporate customers in Argentina. It offers various retail banking products and services, such as savings and checking accounts, time deposits, credit and debit cards, consumer finance loans, mortgage loans, automobile loans, overdrafts, credit-related services, home and car insurance coverage, tax collection, utility payments, automated teller machines (ATMs), and money transfers.