Banco Santander Brasil SA (NYSE:BSBR) Shares Shorted: Short Interest Down 49.2% in October

Key Points

• Short interest fell 49.2% in October to 4.56 million shares, representing just 0.1% of Banco Santander Brasil’s outstanding shares and 0.9 days of average trading volume.
• Analysts have broadly turned cautious, with five firms rating the stock “Hold” and a consensus price target of $6.10. Shares recently traded at $4.42 after the bank missed quarterly earnings and revenue estimates.
• The company reduced its quarterly dividend to $0.0804 per share from $0.1045, equating to an annualized dividend of $0.32 and a 7.3% yield.

Banco Santander Brasil SA (NYSE:BSBR - Get Free Report) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totaling 4,561,186 shares, a drop of 49.2% from the September 30th total of 8,976,110 shares. Currently, 0.1% of the company's shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 4,972,151 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 0.9 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Banco Santander Brasil from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Monday, October 26th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Banco Santander Brasil from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. HSBC cut Banco Santander Brasil from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $7.20 to $6.20 in a research report on Tuesday, September 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Banco Santander Brasil from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, July 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Banco Santander Brasil from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $6.50 to $6.00 in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Banco Santander Brasil has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $6.10.

Banco Santander Brasil Trading Down 3.3%

Shares of NYSE:BSBR traded down $0.15 on Friday, reaching $4.42. 3,786,313 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,169,592. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $5.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $5.82. Banco Santander Brasil has a 52 week low of $4.38 and a 52 week high of $7.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.34.

Banco Santander Brasil (NYSE:BSBR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The bank reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $3.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.98 billion. Banco Santander Brasil had a net margin of 7.49% and a return on equity of 11.06%. Analysts expect that Banco Santander Brasil will post 0.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Banco Santander Brasil Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 19th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.0804 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 22nd. This is a negative change from Banco Santander Brasil's previous quarterly dividend of $0.1045.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Cezar Augusto Janikian sold 6,600 shares of Banco Santander Brasil stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.72, for a total transaction of $37,752.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 47,007 shares of the company's stock, valued at $268,880.04. This trade represents a 12.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Rudolf Gschliffner sold 11,507 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.73, for a total value of $65,935.11. Following the transaction, the insider owned 33,192 shares in the company, valued at $190,190.16. The trade was a 25.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 233,438 shares of company stock worth $1,338,299. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Banco Santander Brasil by 43.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 221,909 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,316,000 after purchasing an additional 67,224 shares during the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its stake in Banco Santander Brasil by 765.6% during the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 139,178 shares of the bank's stock valued at $731,000 after buying an additional 123,100 shares during the last quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda boosted its holdings in Banco Santander Brasil by 58.9% in the first quarter. SPX Gestao de Recursos Ltda now owns 86,883 shares of the bank's stock worth $515,000 after acquiring an additional 32,189 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its holdings in Banco Santander Brasil by 9.4% in the first quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 81,609 shares of the bank's stock worth $484,000 after acquiring an additional 6,982 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aprio Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Banco Santander Brasil in the third quarter worth $147,000. Institutional investors own 14.53% of the company's stock.

About Banco Santander Brasil

Banco Santander (Brasil) SA is a Brazilian financial institution and a subsidiary of Spain-based Banco Santander. It provides banking and financial services to individuals, small and midsize businesses, corporate clients and institutional customers throughout Brazil.

The company's offerings include checking and savings accounts, consumer and commercial loans, credit and debit cards, mortgages, payroll lending, insurance, investment products, foreign-exchange services, cash management and payment solutions.

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