Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) Given Average Rating of “Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the three brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company.

A number of research analysts recently commented on SAN shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th.

Banco Santander Price Performance

Shares of SAN opened at $7.76 on Monday. Banco Santander has a twelve month low of $4.27 and a twelve month high of $7.77. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $6.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $117.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.34, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.83.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 15.88% and a return on equity of 11.90%. The business had revenue of $17.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.94 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Banco Santander will post 0.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Banco Santander Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. Banco Santander’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.69%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Banco Santander

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SAN. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Banco Santander in the 3rd quarter valued at about $45,000. Wedmont Private Capital increased its position in Banco Santander by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 34,884 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $161,000 after acquiring an additional 3,565 shares during the period. PFW Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Banco Santander in the 4th quarter valued at about $136,000. Traveka Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Banco Santander in the 4th quarter valued at about $171,000. Finally, Fiduciary Financial Group LLC increased its position in Banco Santander by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 18,882 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $87,000 after acquiring an additional 2,461 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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 project finance, debt capital markets, global transaction banking, and corporate finance services.