Blue Trust Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN)

Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) by 218.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 105,580 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 72,462 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Banco Santander were worth $538,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Banco Santander by 18.3% during the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,316,066 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,370,000 after buying an additional 203,274 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its holdings in Banco Santander by 20.9% during the first quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 4,824,760 shares of the bank’s stock worth $23,352,000 after buying an additional 834,200 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Banco Santander by 2.3% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 249,397 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,207,000 after buying an additional 5,634 shares in the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC boosted its holdings in Banco Santander by 216.2% during the first quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 294,147 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,424,000 after buying an additional 201,134 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Banco Santander by 10.6% during the first quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 93,174 shares of the bank’s stock worth $451,000 after buying an additional 8,957 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 9.19% of the company’s stock.

Banco Santander Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SAN opened at $5.02 on Wednesday. Banco Santander, S.A. has a 12-month low of $3.52 and a 12-month high of $5.27. The company has a market capitalization of $79.44 billion, a PE ratio of 6.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 1.14. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $4.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4.88.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.22. Banco Santander had a net margin of 15.35% and a return on equity of 11.42%. The company had revenue of $16.87 billion for the quarter. On average, analysts forecast that Banco Santander, S.A. will post 0.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Banco Santander Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a Semi-Annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. Banco Santander’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.22%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, UBS Group raised shares of Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th.

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.