Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) Raises Dividend to $0.12 Per Share

Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) announced a semi-annual dividend on Monday, March 10th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of 0.1152 per share by the bank on Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. This is a 44.0% increase from Banco Santander’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.08.

Banco Santander has increased its dividend payment by an average of 55.6% per year over the last three years. Banco Santander has a payout ratio of 22.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Banco Santander to earn $0.92 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.22 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 23.9%.

Banco Santander Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SAN opened at $6.40 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $96.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.09. Banco Santander has a twelve month low of $4.27 and a twelve month high of $6.83. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5.06. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.83.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The bank reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.21. Banco Santander had a net margin of 15.88% and a return on equity of 11.90%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Banco Santander will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on SAN shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Banco Santander from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy”.

About Banco Santander

Banco Santander, SA 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.