Comparing Banco Santander (SAN) & Its Competitors

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) is one of 86 publicly-traded companies in the “BANKS – FOREIGN” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Banco Santander to similar companies based on the strength of its risk, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, profitability, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

9.2% of Banco Santander shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 25.4% of shares of all “BANKS – FOREIGN” companies are owned by institutional investors. 9.5% of Banco Santander shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.9% of shares of all “BANKS – FOREIGN” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Banco Santander pays an annual dividend of $0.19 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Banco Santander pays out 18.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “BANKS – FOREIGN” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.4% and pay out 37.8% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Risk & Volatility

Banco Santander has a beta of 0.71, meaning that its stock price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Banco Santander’s competitors have a beta of 0.65, meaning that their average stock price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Banco Santander and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Banco Santander	18.85%	12.14%	0.73%
Banco Santander Competitors	18.17%	13.25%	1.07%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Banco Santander and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Banco Santander	1	3	4	1	2.56
Banco Santander Competitors	1363	4479	4778	323	2.37

As a group, “BANKS – FOREIGN” companies have a potential upside of 14.92%. Given Banco Santander’s competitors higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Banco Santander has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Banco Santander and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Banco Santander	$66.36 billion	$15.95 billion	10.51
Banco Santander Competitors	$781.05 billion	$7.20 billion	10.90

Banco Santander’s competitors have higher revenue, but lower earnings than Banco Santander. Banco Santander is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Banco Santander beats its competitors on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

About Banco Santander

Banco Santander, S.A. 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. The company also provides asset management and private banking services; and insurance products. In addition, it offers corporate and investment banking services; and digital payment solutions. Further, it offers online banking and financial services to retail, business, institutional, corporate, private banking and university customers and clients. The company was formerly known as Banco Santander Central Hispano SA and changed its name to Banco Santander, S.A. in February 2007. Banco Santander, S.A. was founded in 1856 and is headquartered in Madrid, Spain.