Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) Raised to Outperform at Royal Bank Of Canada

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Banco Santander in a research note on Monday, February 16th. Barclays downgraded shares of Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Kepler Capital Markets upgraded shares of Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Banco Santander has an average rating of “Hold”.

Banco Santander Stock Up 3.0%

NYSE SAN opened at $12.75 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $189.71 billion, a PE ratio of 12.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.72. Banco Santander has a 12-month low of $5.54 and a 12-month high of $13.11. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $12.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.84.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The bank reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.04. Banco Santander had a return on equity of 12.14% and a net margin of 18.85%.The company had revenue of $18.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.89 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Banco Santander will post 0.83 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dynasty Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Banco Santander in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,743,000. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. increased its position in shares of Banco Santander by 104.3% in the 2nd quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. now owns 241,250 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,002,000 after buying an additional 123,150 shares in the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its stake in Banco Santander by 52.4% during the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 500,590 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,211,000 after buying an additional 172,042 shares during the period. Choreo LLC grew its stake in Banco Santander by 20.4% in the second quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 120,933 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,004,000 after acquiring an additional 20,530 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning increased its holdings in shares of Banco Santander by 4.5% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,728,439 shares of the bank’s stock worth $14,346,000 after acquiring an additional 75,186 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 9.19% of the company’s stock.

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.