Reviewing Banco Santander (SAN) & Its Rivals

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) is one of 85 publicly-traded companies in the “BANKS – FOREIGN” industry, but how does it compare to its peers? We will compare Banco Santander to similar companies based on the strength of its valuation, profitability, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings and dividends.

Dividends

Banco Santander pays an annual dividend of $0.19 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Banco Santander pays out 18.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “BANKS – FOREIGN” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.4% and pay out 38.1% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

9.2% of Banco Santander shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 25.4% of shares of all “BANKS – FOREIGN” companies are held by institutional investors. 9.5% of Banco Santander shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.9% of shares of all “BANKS – FOREIGN” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Banco Santander and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Banco Santander	$66.36 billion	$15.95 billion	10.48
Banco Santander Competitors	$781.05 billion	$7.20 billion	10.96

Banco Santander’s peers have higher revenue, but lower earnings than Banco Santander. Banco Santander is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Risk and Volatility

Banco Santander has a beta of 0.71, suggesting that its stock price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Banco Santander’s peers have a beta of 0.65, suggesting that their average stock price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Banco Santander and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Banco Santander	1	3	4	1	2.56
Banco Santander Competitors	1347	4427	4746	228	2.36

As a group, “BANKS – FOREIGN” companies have a potential upside of 15.47%. Given Banco Santander’s peers higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Banco Santander has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Profitability

This table compares Banco Santander and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Banco Santander	18.85%	12.14%	0.73%
Banco Santander Competitors	18.17%	13.25%	1.07%

Summary

Banco Santander beats its peers on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

About Banco Santander

Banco Santander, S.A. provides various financial services worldwide. The company operates through Retail Banking, Santander Corporate & Investment Banking, Wealth Management & Insurance, and PagoNxt segments. It offers demand and time deposits, mutual funds, and current and savings accounts; mortgages, consumer finance, loans, and various financing solutions; and project finance, debt capital markets, global transaction banking, and corporate finance services. The company also provides asset management and private banking services; and insurance products. In addition, it offers corporate and investment banking services; and digital payment solutions. Further, it offers online banking and financial services to retail, business, institutional, corporate, private banking and university customers and clients. The company was formerly known as Banco Santander Central Hispano SA and changed its name to Banco Santander, S.A. in February 2007. Banco Santander, S.A. was founded in 1856 and is headquartered in Madrid, Spain.