Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the ten brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company.

SAN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada raised Banco Santander from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, April 26th. Santander reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Banco Santander in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Banco Santander from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Banco Santander in a research note on Monday, February 16th.

Banco Santander Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of SAN opened at $13.15 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $193.09 billion, a PE ratio of 10.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.73. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $12.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.91. Banco Santander has a 52-week low of $7.86 and a 52-week high of $13.30.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The bank reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $17.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.66 billion. Banco Santander had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 26.92%. On average, equities analysts expect that Banco Santander will post 1.11 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Banco Santander

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SAN. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new stake in Banco Santander during the third quarter worth approximately $93,811,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Banco Santander by 2,038,075.5% in the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 7,643,158 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $63,438,000 after buying an additional 7,642,783 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Banco Santander by 118.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 11,413,194 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $128,741,000 after acquiring an additional 6,198,828 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its stake 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 worth $149,504,000 after acquiring an additional 5,856,034 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Banco Santander by 225.3% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 4,100,768 shares of the bank’s stock worth $42,976,000 after acquiring an additional 2,840,145 shares during the last quarter. 9.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.