Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) Short Interest Up 30.3% in December

Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) saw a large increase in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totaling 3,505,419 shares, an increase of 30.3% from the November 30th total of 2,689,861 shares. Currently, 0.0% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 2,875,419 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.2 days. Based on an average trading volume of 2,875,419 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.2 days. Currently, 0.0% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Banco Santander Price Performance

NYSE SAN traded down $0.09 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $11.75. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,474,020 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,439,050. The company has a market cap of $174.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.74. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.82. Banco Santander has a 12 month low of $4.43 and a 12 month high of $11.93.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The bank reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $26.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.32 billion. Banco Santander had a return on equity of 11.68% and a net margin of 17.90%. As a group, research analysts predict that Banco Santander will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Banco Santander Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 6th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st were issued a $0.0956 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 31st. This represents a dividend yield of 263.0%. Banco Santander’s payout ratio is presently 20.21%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Banco Santander

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SAN. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. grew its position in Banco Santander by 104.3% in the second quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. now owns 241,250 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,002,000 after acquiring an additional 123,150 shares in the last quarter. Choreo LLC lifted its stake in shares of Banco Santander by 20.4% in the 2nd quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 120,933 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,004,000 after purchasing an additional 20,530 shares during the last quarter. TrueMark Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Banco Santander by 18.3% in the 2nd quarter. TrueMark Investments LLC now owns 271,453 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,253,000 after purchasing an additional 42,044 shares during the period. LVW Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Banco Santander during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $321,000. Finally, Creative Planning raised its holdings in Banco Santander by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 1,728,439 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $14,346,000 after buying an additional 75,186 shares during the period. 9.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SAN. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Zacks Research cut Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Banco Santander in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, DZ Bank cut shares of Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Banco Santander presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

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.