Principal Securities Inc. Grows Position in Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN)

Principal Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) by 13.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 17,230 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 2,032 shares during the quarter. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Banco Santander were worth $79,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SAN. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in Banco Santander by 2.1% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 561,559 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,864,000 after purchasing an additional 11,449 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Banco Santander by 51.3% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 94,293 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $481,000 after purchasing an additional 31,978 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in Banco Santander by 16.1% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 85,632 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $437,000 after purchasing an additional 11,866 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its holdings in Banco Santander by 1.3% in the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 441,323 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,251,000 after purchasing an additional 5,602 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its holdings in Banco Santander by 6.9% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 438,070 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,234,000 after purchasing an additional 28,350 shares in the last quarter. 9.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Banco Santander Price Performance

SAN stock opened at $6.45 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $97.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.77, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.12. Banco Santander, S.A. has a twelve month low of $4.07 and a twelve month high of $6.50. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $5.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.96. The company has a current ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.83.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The bank reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.21. Banco Santander had a return on equity of 11.90% and a net margin of 15.88%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Banco Santander, S.A. will post 0.83 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SAN has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley raised Banco Santander from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. StockNews.com raised Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. One 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently 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.