Barclays Upgrades Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) to “Overweight”

Barclays upgraded shares of Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a research report released on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports.

Banco Santander Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SAN opened at $4.84 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.24, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.35. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $4.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $3.99. Banco Santander has a fifty-two week low of $3.20 and a fifty-two week high of $4.85. The firm has a market cap of $76.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 1.20.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last issued its earnings results 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 net margin of 19.29% and a return on equity of 10.82%. The firm had revenue of $15.67 billion during the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.14 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Banco Santander will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Banco Santander Increases Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Banco Santander

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Banco Santander in the 4th quarter worth about $95,000. Kathmere Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Banco Santander by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 28,286 shares of the bank’s stock worth $106,000 after acquiring an additional 3,552 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Banco Santander in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,345,000. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in Banco Santander by 9.9% in the 2nd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 832,030 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,087,000 after buying an additional 74,679 shares during the period. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL purchased a new position in Banco Santander in the 3rd quarter worth about $507,000. Institutional investors own 9.19% of the company’s stock.

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