Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) Upgraded at Barclays

Barclays upgraded shares of Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

Banco Santander Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of SAN stock opened at $4.84 on Monday. Banco Santander has a twelve month low of $3.20 and a twelve month high of $4.85. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $4.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $3.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.24. The company has a market capitalization of $76.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.91, a PEG ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.20.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The bank reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18. Banco Santander had a net margin of 19.29% and a return on equity of 10.82%. The company had revenue of $15.67 billion during the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.14 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Banco Santander will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Banco Santander Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a $0.1027 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 3.2%. This is a positive change from Banco Santander’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. Banco Santander’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Banco Santander

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Macquarie Group Ltd. increased its position in Banco Santander by 2.7% in the first quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 21,100,827 shares of the bank’s stock worth $77,862,000 after buying an additional 547,609 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Banco Santander by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 20,137,558 shares of the bank’s stock worth $59,406,000 after purchasing an additional 1,777,193 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Banco Santander by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 15,786,825 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $65,357,000 after buying an additional 892,960 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in Banco Santander by 41.4% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 14,148,083 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $58,699,000 after buying an additional 4,139,669 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Banco Santander by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 12,038,463 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $44,422,000 after purchasing an additional 298,818 shares during the period. 9.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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 corporate finance, global debt financing and market, global transaction banking, and private debt mobilization solutions.