Banco Santander, S.A. $SAN Shares Purchased by Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky

Key Points

• Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky bought an additional 349,000 shares of Banco Santander, raising its stake 7.7% to 4,861,360 shares worth about $57.0 million, while other large institutions (Capital International, Northern Trust, Lazard, CIBC) also materially increased holdings.
• Analysts collectively give Banco Santander a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" after several upgrades (including Morgan Stanley to Overweight and Kepler/UBS to Buy), though Barclays recently cut its rating to Hold.
• The bank reported an EPS beat ($0.28 vs. $0.24 expected) and $17.68 billion in revenue, and declared a $0.1473 dividend payable May 8; SAN trades near $11.95 with a 52‑week range of $6.82–$13.24.

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky grew its position in shares of Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN - Free Report) by 7.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,861,360 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 349,000 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky's holdings in Banco Santander were worth $57,024,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital International Investors grew its stake 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 buying an additional 5,856,034 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Banco Santander by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 12,844,029 shares of the bank's stock worth $134,605,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,811 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Banco Santander by 20.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 9,211,673 shares of the bank's stock valued at $96,538,000 after acquiring an additional 1,568,515 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in Banco Santander by 4.4% during the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 8,981,872 shares of the bank's stock worth $94,130,000 after purchasing an additional 376,023 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Banco Santander during the third quarter worth about $93,811,000. 9.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Banco Santander from a "buy (b+)" rating to a "buy (a-)" rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Kepler Capital Markets upgraded shares of Banco Santander from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Banco Santander in a research report on Monday, February 16th. Morgan Stanley raised Banco Santander from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Barclays cut Banco Santander from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Banco Santander has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".

Banco Santander Stock Up 0.5%

SAN stock opened at $11.95 on Friday. The company's 50 day moving average price is $11.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $11.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $175.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.83, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.76. Banco Santander, S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $6.82 and a fifty-two week high of $13.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.15, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 0.33.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The bank reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.04. Banco Santander had a net margin of 18.85% and a return on equity of 12.14%. The company had revenue of $17.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.89 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Banco Santander, S.A. will post 1.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Banco Santander Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th will be issued a $0.1473 dividend. This represents a yield of 254.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 4th. Banco Santander's dividend payout ratio is 18.81%.

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.

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