Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) Upgraded to “Overweight” at Morgan Stanley

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) was upgraded by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued on Monday, MarketBeat reports.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays cut Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. DZ Bank downgraded shares of Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 7th. Kepler Capital Markets raised shares of Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Banco Santander in a research note on Monday, February 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Banco Santander Stock Performance

NYSE:SAN opened at $10.54 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $156.86 billion, a PE ratio of 10.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.15. Banco Santander has a 12-month low of $5.54 and a 12-month high of $13.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $12.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.13.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The bank reported $0.28 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $18.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.89 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Banco Santander will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Banco Santander

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Banco Santander by 38.9% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 114,066 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,338,000 after acquiring an additional 31,958 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors grew its stake in shares of Banco Santander by 28.8% during the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 26,863 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $315,000 after purchasing an additional 6,014 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Banco Santander by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 327,704 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,844,000 after purchasing an additional 16,593 shares during the last quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Banco Santander in the 4th quarter worth approximately $157,000. Finally, Rehmann Capital Advisory Group boosted its position in Banco Santander by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 21,975 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $259,000 after buying an additional 2,224 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 9.19% of the company’s stock.

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.