Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) Stock Rating Upgraded by Morgan Stanley

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) was upgraded by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports.

SAN has been the subject of several other reports. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Banco Santander in a report on Monday, February 16th. Wall Street Zen raised Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised Banco Santander from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. DZ Bank downgraded Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. 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 given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Banco Santander Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of NYSE SAN opened at $10.91 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $12.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.15. Banco Santander has a 12 month low of $5.54 and a 12 month high of $13.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.15. The company has a market cap of $162.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.80, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 0.71.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The bank reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $18.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.89 billion. Banco Santander had a net margin of 18.85% and a return on equity of 12.14%. As a group, analysts forecast that Banco Santander will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Banco Santander

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new stake in Banco Santander during the third quarter valued at $93,811,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Banco Santander by 2,038,075.5% in the 2nd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 7,643,158 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $63,438,000 after purchasing an additional 7,642,783 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Banco Santander by 67.5% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,529,024 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $149,504,000 after purchasing an additional 5,856,034 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its stake in Banco Santander by 225.3% during the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 4,100,768 shares of the bank’s stock worth $42,976,000 after purchasing an additional 2,840,145 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Banco Santander by 85.0% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,552,931 shares of the bank’s stock worth $58,195,000 after purchasing an additional 2,551,675 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 9.19% of the company’s stock.

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.