Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) Short Interest Update

Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) saw a significant increase in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 74,103,742 shares, an increase of 26.7% from the February 26th total of 58,480,112 shares. Approximately 0.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 21,453,660 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.5 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SAN has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays cut shares of Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 7th. Kepler Capital Markets upgraded Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Banco Santander in a research report on Monday, February 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Banco Santander from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Banco Santander

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in Banco Santander in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Banco Santander during the third quarter valued at $27,000. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Banco Santander during the third quarter valued at $31,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Banco Santander in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. purchased a new position in Banco Santander in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. 9.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Banco Santander Trading Up 5.5%

Shares of SAN opened at $11.29 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.18. The company has a market cap of $168.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.15. Banco Santander has a twelve month low of $5.54 and a twelve month high of $13.24.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The bank reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.04. Banco Santander had a net margin of 18.85% and a return on equity of 12.14%. The firm had revenue of $17.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.89 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Banco Santander will post 0.83 EPS for the current year.

Banco Santander Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.1473 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 4th. This represents a dividend yield of 254.0%. Banco Santander’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.81%.

About Banco Santander

Banco Santander, SA (NYSE: SAN) is a Spanish multinational banking group headquartered in Santander, Spain. Founded in 1857, the bank has grown from a regional institution into one of Europe’s largest banking groups, operating a diversified financial services platform that serves retail, small and medium-sized enterprises, and large corporate clients. Santander is publicly listed in Spain and maintains American Depositary Receipts on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker SAN.

The group’s core activities include retail and commercial banking—offering deposit accounts, payment services, mortgages, personal and auto loans, and small business financing—alongside corporate and investment banking services for larger institutional clients.