Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) Reaches New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on SAN. Zacks Research cut shares of Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. DZ Bank lowered Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. 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. Kepler Capital Markets raised Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Barclays downgraded shares of Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold”.

Banco Santander Stock Up 0.9%

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $11.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.39. The company has a market cap of $190.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.73.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The bank reported $0.23 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $26.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.32 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Banco Santander, S.A. will post 0.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Banco Santander

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dynasty Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Banco Santander in the third quarter valued at about $1,743,000. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. raised its stake in shares of Banco Santander by 104.3% during the 2nd quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. now owns 241,250 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,002,000 after purchasing an additional 123,150 shares in the last quarter. Choreo LLC grew 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 buying an additional 20,530 shares in the last quarter. TrueMark Investments LLC increased its holdings in Banco Santander by 18.3% in the second quarter. TrueMark Investments LLC now owns 271,453 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,253,000 after buying an additional 42,044 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barometer Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Banco Santander by 5,818.8% during the second quarter. Barometer Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,757,483 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $14,587,000 after acquiring an additional 1,727,790 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 9.19% of the company’s stock.

Banco Santander Company Profile

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.