Clark Capital Management Group Inc. Purchases 1,485,006 Shares of Banco Santander, S.A. $SAN

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) by 26.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,156,053 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 1,485,006 shares during the quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Banco Santander were worth $74,995,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SAN. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Banco Santander by 67.5% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,529,024 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $149,504,000 after acquiring an additional 5,856,034 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in Banco Santander by 20.5% during the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 9,211,673 shares of the bank’s stock worth $96,538,000 after acquiring an additional 1,568,515 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Banco Santander by 85.0% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,552,931 shares of the bank’s stock worth $58,195,000 after purchasing an additional 2,551,675 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $39,658,000 after purchasing an additional 1,942,579 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Banco Santander by 19.4% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,316,844 shares of the bank’s stock worth $45,241,000 after purchasing an additional 701,932 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 9.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SAN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Kepler Capital Markets upgraded shares of Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings raised Banco Santander from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Banco Santander in a research note on Monday, February 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised Banco Santander from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Banco Santander Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of NYSE SAN opened at $10.76 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $160.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.65, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.15. Banco Santander, S.A. has a 12 month low of $5.54 and a 12 month high of $13.24. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $12.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.07.

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

Banco Santander Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th will be given a $0.1473 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 4th. This represents a yield of 254.0%. Banco Santander’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.79%.

Banco Santander 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.