Banco Santander, S.A. $SAN Shares Purchased by HighTower Advisors LLC

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) by 12.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 514,156 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 57,643 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Banco Santander were worth $5,388,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SAN. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Banco Santander by 2,038,075.5% during the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 7,643,158 shares of the bank’s stock worth $63,438,000 after purchasing an additional 7,642,783 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Banco Santander by 85.0% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,552,931 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $58,195,000 after buying an additional 2,551,675 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Banco Santander by 68.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 4,778,086 shares of the bank’s stock worth $39,658,000 after acquiring an additional 1,942,579 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Banco Santander by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,614,912 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,004,000 after acquiring an additional 315,032 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Banco Santander by 29.7% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,859,097 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $23,731,000 after acquiring an additional 654,503 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 9.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Kepler Capital Markets raised shares of Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b+)” rating on shares of Banco Santander in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada raised Banco Santander from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, DZ Bank downgraded Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Banco Santander presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

Banco Santander Trading Down 0.2%

SAN opened at $12.73 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $12.19 and its 200-day moving average is $10.86. The stock has a market cap of $189.42 billion, a PE ratio of 12.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.72. Banco Santander, S.A. has a twelve month low of $5.54 and a twelve month high of $13.19.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The bank reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.04. Banco Santander had a return on equity of 12.14% and a net margin of 18.85%.The firm had revenue of $18.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.89 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Banco Santander, S.A. will post 0.83 EPS for the current year.

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.