Choate Investment Advisors Acquires Shares of 12,588 Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN)

Choate Investment Advisors acquired a new stake in Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 12,588 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $57,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Impact Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Banco Santander in the fourth quarter valued at $81,000. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Banco Santander by 26.8% in the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 17,495 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 3,698 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Banco Santander by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 76,047 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $347,000 after buying an additional 12,690 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Banco Santander by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 130,512 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $595,000 after purchasing an additional 5,815 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Banco Santander by 24.5% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 430,251 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,962,000 after purchasing an additional 84,727 shares in the last quarter. 9.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SAN. StockNews.com raised shares of Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Banco Santander from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy”.

Banco Santander Stock Performance

Shares of SAN stock opened at $6.88 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $104.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.83, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 2.24. Banco Santander, S.A. has a 52 week low of $4.27 and a 52 week high of $6.97. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $5.12.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The bank reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.21. Banco Santander had a net margin of 15.88% and a return on equity of 11.90%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Banco Santander, S.A. will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Banco Santander Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.1152 dividend. This is an increase from Banco Santander’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a dividend yield of 2.4%. Banco Santander’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.28%.

About Banco Santander

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.