Raymond James & Associates Boosts Position in Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN)

Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in shares of Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) by 239.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 653,167 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 460,923 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in Banco Santander were worth $2,704,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC increased its position in Banco Santander by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 26,844 shares of the bank’s stock worth $79,000 after buying an additional 2,781 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Banco Santander by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 68,163 shares of the bank’s stock worth $201,000 after buying an additional 3,035 shares in the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH increased its position in Banco Santander by 17.6% in the third quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 22,688 shares of the bank’s stock worth $85,000 after buying an additional 3,393 shares in the last quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC increased its position in Banco Santander by 3.6% in the third quarter. Gallacher Capital Management LLC now owns 101,391 shares of the bank’s stock worth $381,000 after buying an additional 3,528 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PDS Planning Inc increased its position in Banco Santander by 9.1% in the third quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 42,466 shares of the bank’s stock worth $160,000 after buying an additional 3,552 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 9.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Barclays raised Banco Santander from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 25th.

Banco Santander Stock Performance

NYSE SAN opened at $4.65 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $73.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.24. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $4.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $4.10. Banco Santander, S.A. has a twelve month low of $3.20 and a twelve month high of $5.05.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The bank reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18. Banco Santander had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 19.29%. The firm had revenue of $15.67 billion during the quarter. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.14 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Banco Santander, S.A. will post 0.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Banco Santander Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.1027 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. This is a positive change from Banco Santander’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.09. This represents a yield of 3.2%. Banco Santander’s dividend payout ratio is presently 17.14%.

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.