Fisher Asset Management LLC Reduces Stake in Banco Santander, S.A. $SAN

Fisher Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) by 10.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 96,865,591 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 10,763,516 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Banco Santander were worth $1,136,233,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SAN. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Banco Santander by 77.4% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 419,635 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,812,000 after acquiring an additional 183,051 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Banco Santander by 3.7% during the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 71,990 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $482,000 after buying an additional 2,566 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of Banco Santander by 271.2% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 10,276 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 7,508 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its position in shares of Banco Santander by 65.3% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 71,169 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $477,000 after buying an additional 28,107 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Banco Santander during the first quarter valued at approximately $601,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 9.19% of the company’s stock.

Banco Santander Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SAN opened at $12.06 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $177.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.96, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $11.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.69. Banco Santander, S.A. has a 52-week low of $7.80 and a 52-week high of $13.24.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The bank reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $17.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.66 billion. Banco Santander had a net margin of 26.92% and a return on equity of 12.23%. Analysts forecast that Banco Santander, S.A. will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Banco Santander Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 8th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a $0.1473 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 4th. This represents a dividend yield of 255.0%. Banco Santander’s payout ratio is presently 17.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SAN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded Banco Santander from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 26th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Banco Santander in a research report on Monday, February 16th. Santander restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Banco Santander in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Banco Santander from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Banco Santander presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

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.