Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) Rating Increased to Moderate Buy at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) from a hold rating to a moderate buy rating in a research note released on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on SAN. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Banco Santander from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy”.

Banco Santander Price Performance

Banco Santander stock opened at $6.34 on Monday. Banco Santander has a 12 month low of $4.07 and a 12 month high of $6.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.83, a current ratio of 2.24 and a quick ratio of 0.23. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.99 billion, a PE ratio of 7.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.12.

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

Institutional Trading of Banco Santander

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SAN. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of Banco Santander by 2.1% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 561,559 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,864,000 after acquiring an additional 11,449 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Banco Santander by 51.3% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 94,293 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $481,000 after acquiring an additional 31,978 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Banco Santander by 16.1% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 85,632 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $437,000 after acquiring an additional 11,866 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Banco Santander by 1.3% during the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 441,323 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,251,000 after acquiring an additional 5,602 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its position in Banco Santander by 6.9% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 438,070 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,234,000 after buying an additional 28,350 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 9.19% of the company’s stock.

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.