Summit Global Investments Raises Position in Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN)

Summit Global Investments increased its holdings in Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) by 69.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 227,478 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 92,987 shares during the quarter. Summit Global Investments’ holdings in Banco Santander were worth $1,037,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SAN. Groupama Asset Managment bought a new stake in Banco Santander in the 3rd quarter worth $53,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Banco Santander by 33.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,893,727 shares of the bank’s stock worth $106,558,000 after acquiring an additional 5,290,236 shares during the last quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Banco Santander by 106.3% in the 4th quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 9,101,145 shares of the bank’s stock worth $41,501,000 after acquiring an additional 4,689,461 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Banco Santander by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 143,585,152 shares of the bank’s stock worth $732,284,000 after acquiring an additional 2,011,150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Banco Santander by 55.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,301,711 shares of the bank’s stock worth $16,839,000 after acquiring an additional 1,178,449 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 9.19% of the company’s stock.

Banco Santander Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE SAN opened at $6.92 on Friday. Banco Santander, S.A. has a 1 year low of $4.27 and a 1 year high of $7.16. The stock has a market cap of $104.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $5.86 and a 200 day moving average of $5.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.83, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 0.23.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The bank reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21. Banco Santander had a net margin of 15.88% and a return on equity of 11.90%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Banco Santander, S.A. will post 0.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Banco Santander Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.1152 per share. This is a boost from Banco Santander’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.08. This represents a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. Banco Santander’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on SAN shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Banco Santander from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Banco Santander currently has a consensus rating of “Buy”.

Banco Santander Profile

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.