Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) Hits New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday after Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded the stock from a sector perform rating to an outperform rating. The company 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.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on SAN. DZ Bank cut shares of Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Banco Santander in a report on Monday, February 16th. Kepler Capital Markets upgraded Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Barclays downgraded Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold”.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Banco Santander

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dynasty Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Banco Santander in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,743,000. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. grew its holdings in Banco Santander by 104.3% during the 2nd quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. now owns 241,250 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,002,000 after acquiring an additional 123,150 shares in the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Banco Santander by 52.4% in the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 500,590 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,211,000 after purchasing an additional 172,042 shares in the last quarter. Choreo LLC lifted its position in shares of Banco Santander by 20.4% during the 2nd quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 120,933 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,004,000 after purchasing an additional 20,530 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning increased its holdings in Banco Santander by 4.5% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,728,439 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $14,346,000 after buying an additional 75,186 shares during the last quarter. 9.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Banco Santander Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $12.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.84. The company has a market capitalization of $192.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.83, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.72.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last issued its 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. Banco Santander had a net margin of 18.85% and a return on equity of 12.14%. The business had revenue of $18.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.89 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Banco Santander, S.A. will post 0.83 EPS 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.