Guardian Capital LP Grows Position in Banco Santander, S.A. $SAN

Guardian Capital LP raised its stake in shares of Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) by 61.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 228,126 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 87,054 shares during the period. Guardian Capital LP’s holdings in Banco Santander were worth $2,391,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised 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 purchasing an additional 7,642,783 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Banco Santander by 85.0% during 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 during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Banco Santander by 68.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,778,086 shares of the bank’s stock worth $39,658,000 after purchasing an additional 1,942,579 shares in the last quarter. Barometer Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Banco Santander by 5,818.8% in the 2nd quarter. Barometer Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,757,483 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $14,587,000 after buying an additional 1,727,790 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Banco Santander by 114.6% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 1,335,219 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,993,000 after buying an additional 712,960 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 9.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays lowered Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Zacks Research lowered Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. DZ Bank lowered Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Banco Santander from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Banco Santander has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Banco Santander Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of SAN stock opened at $11.07 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.15. The firm has a market cap of $164.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.96, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a 50 day moving average of $12.23 and a 200-day moving average of $11.00. Banco Santander, S.A. has a 12-month low of $5.54 and a 12-month high of $13.24.

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

Banco Santander Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 4th will be paid 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 presently 18.81%.

Banco Santander 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.