HighTower Advisors LLC Acquires 351,789 Shares of Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN)

HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN – Get Rating) by 158.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 573,461 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 351,789 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Banco Santander were worth $1,692,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Banco Santander by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 145,100,488 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $428,046,000 after purchasing an additional 5,489,652 shares during the last quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Banco Santander by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 18,820,970 shares of the bank’s stock worth $43,665,000 after buying an additional 240,470 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Banco Santander by 37.3% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 13,999,050 shares of the bank’s stock worth $47,316,000 after buying an additional 3,805,547 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Banco Santander by 87.6% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 10,708,245 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $36,194,000 after acquiring an additional 4,999,413 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Banco Santander by 11.5% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,211,201 shares of the bank’s stock worth $23,690,000 after acquiring an additional 1,049,284 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SAN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. BNP Paribas raised Banco Santander from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 22nd. HSBC lowered shares of Banco Santander from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 1st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $3.70.

Banco Santander Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE SAN opened at $3.35 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $3.58 and its 200-day moving average is $3.37. The firm has a market cap of $55.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.78 and a beta of 1.08. Banco Santander, S.A. has a 12-month low of $2.26 and a 12-month high of $4.09.

Banco Santander Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 5th. Investors of record on Friday, April 28th were issued a dividend of $0.0631 per share. This is a boost from Banco Santander’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.06. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 27th. This represents a yield of 2%. Banco Santander’s dividend payout ratio is 15.52%.

Banco Santander Profile

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Banco Santander SA is a banking services company, which engages in the provision of banking services to individuals, companies, and institutions. It operates through the following segments: Europe, North America, South America, and Digital Consumer Bank. The Europe segment comprises business activities carried out in the region.