Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) Upgraded at Morgan Stanley

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

SAN has been the subject of several other research reports. Barclays lowered shares of Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Banco Santander in a research report on Monday, February 16th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Banco Santander from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of Banco Santander from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Kepler Capital Markets upgraded Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Banco Santander Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of SAN opened at $11.18 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $12.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.15. Banco Santander has a 12 month low of $5.54 and a 12 month high of $13.24. The company has a market capitalization of $166.34 billion, a PE ratio of 11.06, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.15.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The bank reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $18.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.89 billion. Banco Santander had a return on equity of 12.14% and a net margin of 18.85%. On average, analysts anticipate that Banco Santander will post 0.83 EPS for the current year.

Banco Santander Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Trading of Banco Santander

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in Banco Santander by 38.9% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 114,066 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,338,000 after buying an additional 31,958 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors grew its stake in Banco Santander by 28.8% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 26,863 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $315,000 after acquiring an additional 6,014 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Banco Santander by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 327,704 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,844,000 after acquiring an additional 16,593 shares in the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Banco Santander during the fourth quarter worth approximately $157,000. Finally, Rehmann Capital Advisory Group lifted its holdings in shares of Banco Santander by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 21,975 shares of the bank’s stock worth $259,000 after purchasing an additional 2,224 shares in the last quarter. 9.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.