Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the three research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company.

Several brokerages have weighed in on SAN. StockNews.com raised shares of Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Banco Santander from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Banco Santander

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SAN. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Banco Santander by 197.0% in 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 during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake 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 valued at $3,602,000 after purchasing an additional 372,690 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Banco Santander by 33.9% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,893,727 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $106,558,000 after buying an additional 5,290,236 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Banco Santander by 143.0% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 345,524 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,757,000 after purchasing an additional 203,322 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Banco Santander by 62.2% in the fourth 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 9.19% of the company’s stock.

Banco Santander Stock Up 1.9 %

SAN opened at $7.12 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $107.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.58, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.09. Banco Santander has a 12 month low of $4.27 and a 12 month high of $7.16. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $5.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.21. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.83.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The bank reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21. Banco Santander had a return on equity of 11.90% and a net margin of 15.88%. On average, equities analysts expect that Banco Santander will post 0.83 EPS for the current year.

Banco Santander Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 yield of 2.4%. This is a boost 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 presently 19.28%.

Banco Santander Company Profile

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.