Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) Rating Increased to Overweight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report issued on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on SAN. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded Banco Santander from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Weiss Ratings raised Banco Santander from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. DZ Bank lowered Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Kepler Capital Markets raised Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Banco Santander presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Banco Santander Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SAN opened at $11.16 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $166.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.04, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.71. Banco Santander has a 1 year low of $5.54 and a 1 year high of $13.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.15. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.14.

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

Banco Santander Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Trading of Banco Santander

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

Banco Santander Company Profile

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.