Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) Hits New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday after Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded the stock from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating. The stock traded as high as $13.19 and last traded at $12.9860, with a volume of 2006290 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $12.75.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Zacks Research lowered Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Kepler Capital Markets raised shares of Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Banco Santander in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. DZ Bank cut shares of Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Barclays lowered Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of Banco Santander by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 56,109,418 shares of the bank’s stock worth $658,164,000 after purchasing an additional 1,719,432 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Banco Santander by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 18,037,272 shares of the bank’s stock worth $211,577,000 after acquiring an additional 398,787 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its position in Banco Santander by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,766,849 shares of the bank’s stock worth $174,839,000 after acquiring an additional 237,825 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Banco Santander by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 12,844,029 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $134,605,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000,811 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its position in Banco Santander by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 9,400,907 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $110,273,000 after purchasing an additional 419,035 shares during the last quarter. 9.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Banco Santander Stock Down 1.7%

The company has a market cap of $186.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.39, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $12.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.89.

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

About Banco Santander

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.