Choate Investment Advisors Invests $57,000 in Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN)

Choate Investment Advisors bought a new position in Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 12,588 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $57,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Atria Investments Inc grew its stake in Banco Santander by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 28,990 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $132,000 after acquiring an additional 1,917 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. grew its stake in Banco Santander by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 17,230 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 2,032 shares in the last quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC grew its stake in Banco Santander by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC now owns 17,220 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 2,148 shares in the last quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Banco Santander by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 50,013 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $228,000 after acquiring an additional 2,320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OLD National Bancorp IN grew its stake in Banco Santander by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 33,952 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $155,000 after acquiring an additional 2,392 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 9.19% of the company’s stock.

Banco Santander Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of SAN opened at $6.88 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $104.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.28, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.83, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 2.24. Banco Santander, S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $4.27 and a fifty-two week high of $6.97. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $5.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $5.12.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The bank reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21. Banco Santander had a net margin of 15.88% and a return on equity of 11.90%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Banco Santander, S.A. will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Banco Santander Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.1152 per share. This is a positive change from Banco Santander’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.08. This represents a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. Banco Santander’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.28%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SAN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Banco Santander from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Banco Santander has an average rating of “Buy”.

Banco Santander Profile

Banco Santander, SA provides various financial services worldwide. The company operates through Retail Banking, Santander Corporate & Investment Banking, Wealth Management & Insurance, and PagoNxt segments. It offers demand and time deposits, mutual funds, and current and savings accounts; mortgages, consumer finance, loans, and various financing solutions; and project finance, debt capital markets, global transaction banking, and corporate finance services.