Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (NYSE:BBVA) Short Interest Update

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (NYSE:BBVA) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,500,000 shares, an increase of 42.9% from the May 15th total of 2,450,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,720,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days. Approximately 0.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pathstone Family Office LLC acquired a new position in shares of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria during the third quarter worth $151,000. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 242,002 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,944,000 after buying an additional 8,266 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its stake in shares of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria by 56.9% during the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 998,161 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,035,000 after acquiring an additional 362,073 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its position in shares of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria by 7.4% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 151,163 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,217,000 after acquiring an additional 10,437 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria in the third quarter worth about $106,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 2.96% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BBVA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays downgraded shares of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. BNP Paribas downgraded Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold”.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria Price Performance

NYSE BBVA traded down $0.18 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $9.64. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,024,212 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,241,734. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.31. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria has a 52-week low of $7.20 and a 52-week high of $12.20. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $10.20.

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (NYSE:BBVA) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The bank reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.05. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria had a net margin of 26.90% and a return on equity of 15.34%. The business had revenue of $8.92 billion for the quarter. On average, equities analysts forecast that Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, SA provides retail banking, wholesale banking, and asset management services in the United States, Spain, Mexico, Turkey, South America, and internationally. The company offers savings account, demand deposits, and time deposits; and loan products, such as residential mortgages, other households, credit card loans, loans to enterprises and public sector, as well as consumer finance.