VSM Wealth Advisory LLC Buys Shares of 36,608 Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN)

VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 36,608 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $167,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Banco Santander in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Banco Santander by 2,226.3% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 5,839 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 5,588 shares during the period. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new position in shares of Banco Santander in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Advisors Preferred LLC bought a new position in shares of Banco Santander in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Banco Santander in the third quarter worth about $45,000. Institutional investors own 9.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SAN has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley raised Banco Santander from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com raised Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy”.

Banco Santander Stock Performance

NYSE:SAN opened at $7.15 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.83. Banco Santander, S.A. has a 12-month low of $4.27 and a 12-month high of $7.16. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $5.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $108.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.09.

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

Banco Santander Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.1152 per share. This represents a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. This is a boost from Banco Santander’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.08. Banco Santander’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.28%.

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.