Banco Santander Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:SAN)

Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 13,194 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 1,244% compared to the average volume of 982 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on SAN. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Banco Santander from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Banco Santander has an average rating of “Buy”.

Institutional Trading of Banco Santander

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. raised its position in shares of Banco Santander by 197.0% during the 4th quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. now owns 557,390 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,542,000 after buying an additional 369,700 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Banco Santander by 111.8% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 706,184 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,602,000 after buying an additional 372,690 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Banco Santander by 33.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,893,727 shares of the bank’s stock worth $106,558,000 after buying an additional 5,290,236 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Banco Santander by 143.0% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 345,524 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,757,000 after buying an additional 203,322 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Banco Santander by 62.2% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 105,415 shares of the bank’s stock worth $479,000 after buying an additional 40,438 shares in the last quarter. 9.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Banco Santander Trading Up 3.9 %

NYSE SAN opened at $7.15 on Wednesday. Banco Santander has a one year low of $4.27 and a one year high of $7.16. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $5.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.83, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 2.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $108.26 billion, a PE ratio of 8.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.09.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The bank reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.21. Banco Santander had a net margin of 15.88% and a return on equity of 11.90%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Banco Santander will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Banco Santander Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.1152 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 2.4%. This is an increase from Banco Santander’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. Banco Santander’s payout ratio is 19.28%.

About Banco Santander

Banco Santander, SA provides various financial services worldwide. The company operates through Retail Banking, Santander Corporate & Investment Banking, Wealth Management & Insurance, and PagoNxt segments. It offers demand and time deposits, mutual funds, and current and savings accounts; mortgages, consumer finance, loans, and various financing solutions; and project finance, debt capital markets, global transaction banking, and corporate finance services.