Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Buy Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Thursday morning.

Separately, Morgan Stanley upgraded Banco Santander from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th.

Banco Santander Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SAN opened at $5.77 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.08. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $4.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $4.82. Banco Santander has a 1-year low of $3.87 and a 1-year high of $5.82. The stock has a market cap of $91.23 billion, a PE ratio of 7.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 1.12.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The bank reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21. Banco Santander had a return on equity of 11.70% and a net margin of 15.76%. As a group, analysts forecast that Banco Santander will post 0.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Banco Santander

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SAN. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Banco Santander by 26.9% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 165,272 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $765,000 after acquiring an additional 35,026 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Banco Santander by 22.1% in the 2nd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 12,722 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 2,303 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Banco Santander in the 2nd quarter valued at about $280,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Banco Santander by 19.2% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 29,465 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $150,000 after acquiring an additional 4,746 shares during the period. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Banco Santander by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 151,930 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $775,000 after acquiring an additional 2,392 shares during the period. 9.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.