Bank of America Corp DE Purchases 440,676 Shares of Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN)

Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) by 19.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,655,351 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 440,676 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE’s holdings in Banco Santander were worth $12,108,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SAN. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Banco Santander by 23.3% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 154,297 shares of the bank’s stock worth $704,000 after acquiring an additional 29,174 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Banco Santander by 82.3% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 24,153 shares of the bank’s stock worth $110,000 after acquiring an additional 10,907 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Banco Santander by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 120,819 shares of the bank’s stock worth $551,000 after acquiring an additional 14,220 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Banco Santander by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 1,016,856 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,637,000 after acquiring an additional 13,959 shares during the period. Finally, Simon Quick Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Banco Santander by 23.3% in the fourth quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 12,665 shares of the bank’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 2,393 shares during the period. 9.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Banco Santander Price Performance

NYSE:SAN opened at $7.96 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $120.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.58, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.97. Banco Santander, S.A. has a 52-week low of $4.27 and a 52-week high of $8.03. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $6.97 and a 200 day moving average of $5.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.83, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 2.24.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The bank reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22. Banco Santander had a return on equity of 11.90% and a net margin of 15.88%. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.94 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Banco Santander, S.A. will post 0.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Banco Santander Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were given a dividend of $0.1152 per share. This is an increase from Banco Santander’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a yield of 2.4%. Banco Santander’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.69%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Wall Street Zen raised Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy”.

Banco Santander 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.