Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) Hits New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $13.05 and last traded at $13.0350, with a volume of 4365892 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $12.67.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on SAN shares. UBS Group downgraded shares of Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Banco Santander in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Zacks Research lowered Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, DZ Bank lowered shares of Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Banco Santander Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $194.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.87, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.73. The business has a fifty day moving average of $11.55 and a 200 day moving average of $10.35.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The bank reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.02). Banco Santander had a return on equity of 11.68% and a net margin of 17.90%.The business had revenue of $26.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.32 billion. On average, analysts expect that Banco Santander, S.A. will post 0.83 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Banco Santander

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Banco Santander by 77.4% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 419,635 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,812,000 after acquiring an additional 183,051 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its position in Banco Santander by 3.7% during the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 71,990 shares of the bank’s stock worth $482,000 after acquiring an additional 2,566 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in Banco Santander by 271.2% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 10,276 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 7,508 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its stake in Banco Santander by 65.3% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 71,169 shares of the bank’s stock worth $477,000 after purchasing an additional 28,107 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Banco Santander in the first quarter valued at about $601,000. 9.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.