Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the nine brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation, four have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company.

Several brokerages have issued reports on SAN. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of Banco Santander from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Banco Santander in a report on Monday, February 16th. Wall Street Zen raised Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Kepler Capital Markets raised Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Banco Santander from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th.

Institutional Trading of Banco Santander

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Banco Santander by 77.4% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 419,635 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,812,000 after acquiring an additional 183,051 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its holdings in Banco Santander by 3.7% during the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 71,990 shares of the bank’s stock worth $482,000 after purchasing an additional 2,566 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in Banco Santander by 271.2% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 10,276 shares of the bank’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 7,508 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth increased its position in Banco Santander by 65.3% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 71,169 shares of the bank’s stock worth $477,000 after buying an additional 28,107 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Banco Santander in the first quarter valued at approximately $601,000. 9.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Banco Santander Trading Down 1.2%

NYSE:SAN opened at $11.07 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $164.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.71. Banco Santander has a twelve month low of $5.54 and a twelve month high of $13.24. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $12.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.15.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The bank reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.04. Banco Santander had a net margin of 18.85% and a return on equity of 12.14%. The company had revenue of $18.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.89 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Banco Santander will post 0.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Banco Santander Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th will be paid a $0.1473 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 4th. This represents a dividend yield of 254.0%. Banco Santander’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.81%.

About Banco Santander

Banco Santander, SA (NYSE: SAN) is a Spanish multinational banking group headquartered in Santander, Spain. Founded in 1857, the bank has grown from a regional institution into one of Europe’s largest banking groups, operating a diversified financial services platform that serves retail, small and medium-sized enterprises, and large corporate clients. Santander is publicly listed in Spain and maintains American Depositary Receipts on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker SAN.

The group’s core activities include retail and commercial banking—offering deposit accounts, payment services, mortgages, personal and auto loans, and small business financing—alongside corporate and investment banking services for larger institutional clients.