Valeo Financial Advisors LLC Acquires 2,804 Shares of Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN)

Valeo Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) by 7.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 42,345 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,804 shares during the quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Banco Santander were worth $175,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Macquarie Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Banco Santander by 2.7% during the first quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 21,100,827 shares of the bank’s stock worth $77,862,000 after buying an additional 547,609 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Banco Santander by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 20,137,558 shares of the bank’s stock worth $59,406,000 after buying an additional 1,777,193 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Banco Santander by 37.3% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 13,999,050 shares of the bank’s stock worth $47,316,000 after buying an additional 3,805,547 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Banco Santander by 2.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 12,038,463 shares of the bank’s stock worth $44,422,000 after buying an additional 298,818 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in Banco Santander by 87.6% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 10,708,245 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $36,194,000 after purchasing an additional 4,999,413 shares during the last quarter. 9.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Banco Santander Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SAN opened at $4.57 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $4.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.11. Banco Santander, S.A. has a 52 week low of $3.20 and a 52 week high of $5.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.24, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.24 billion, a PE ratio of 6.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 1.22.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The bank reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.18. Banco Santander had a return on equity of 10.82% and a net margin of 19.29%. The firm had revenue of $15.67 billion during the quarter. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.14 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Banco Santander, S.A. will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Banco Santander Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.1027 dividend. This is a positive change from Banco Santander’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. This represents a yield of 3.2%. Banco Santander’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Barclays raised Banco Santander from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th.

Banco Santander 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.