Banco Santander Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:SAN)

Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) was the target of unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock traders purchased 4,108 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 229% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,249 put options.

Institutional Trading of Banco Santander

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of SAN. Groupama Asset Managment acquired a new stake in shares of Banco Santander during the third quarter worth $53,000. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC grew its stake in Banco Santander by 106.3% during the 4th quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 9,101,145 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $41,501,000 after purchasing an additional 4,689,461 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Banco Santander by 46.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,775,261 shares of the bank’s stock worth $49,135,000 after purchasing an additional 3,413,685 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Banco Santander by 55.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,301,711 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $16,839,000 after buying an additional 1,178,449 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in Banco Santander by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,953,176 shares of the bank’s stock worth $100,106,000 after buying an additional 1,059,449 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 9.19% of the company’s stock.

Banco Santander Stock Down 2.6 %

SAN stock traded down $0.16 during trading on Monday, hitting $5.72. 3,559,340 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,299,268. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.89, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.81. Banco Santander has a 1 year low of $4.27 and a 1 year high of $7.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.83. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $6.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $5.32.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The bank reported $0.21 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Banco Santander will post 0.83 EPS for the current year.

Banco Santander Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

SAN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com raised Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy”.

Banco Santander Company 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.