Banco Santander, S.A. $SAN Shares Sold by Lazard Asset Management LLC

Lazard Asset Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) by 5.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 8,388,093 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 494,990 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Banco Santander were worth $94,618,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SAN. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Banco Santander in the 1st quarter valued at $615,000. Themes Management Co LLC increased its position in shares of Banco Santander by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. Themes Management Co LLC now owns 88,215 shares of the bank’s stock worth $995,000 after purchasing an additional 8,123 shares during the last quarter. Vawter Financial Ltd. purchased a new stake in Banco Santander in the 1st quarter valued at about $130,000. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Banco Santander by 9.3% in the first quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. now owns 32,986 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $394,000 after buying an additional 2,804 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Compound Planning Inc. boosted its stake in Banco Santander by 3.7% during the first quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 262,481 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,961,000 after buying an additional 9,355 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 9.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Santander reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Banco Santander in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Banco Santander from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Banco Santander from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. One 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Banco Santander Trading Up 3.2%

Shares of SAN stock opened at $13.98 on Tuesday. Banco Santander, S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $8.29 and a fifty-two week high of $14.39. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $13.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $205.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.89, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.35.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by ($0.02). Banco Santander had a return on equity of 12.43% and a net margin of 26.94%.The business had revenue of $17.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.90 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Banco Santander, S.A. will post 1.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Banco Santander Profile

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.