181,100 Shares in Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) Bought by SIH Partners LLLP

SIH Partners LLLP acquired a new stake in Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 181,100 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $826,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Banco Santander by 106.3% during the 4th quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 9,101,145 shares of the bank's stock valued at $41,501,000 after acquiring an additional 4,689,461 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Banco Santander by 55.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,301,711 shares of the bank's stock valued at $16,839,000 after buying an additional 1,178,449 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Banco Santander by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 21,953,176 shares of the bank's stock worth $100,106,000 after acquiring an additional 1,059,449 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Banco Santander in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,319,000. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Banco Santander by 284.9% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 670,513 shares of the bank's stock worth $3,057,000 after purchasing an additional 496,309 shares in the last quarter. 9.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on SAN shares. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Banco Santander from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Banco Santander from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Banco Santander from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy".

Banco Santander Price Performance

Shares of SAN traded up $0.01 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $7.11. 4,052,207 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,477,497. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $6.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.47. The stock has a market cap of $107.66 billion, a PE ratio of 8.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.81. 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, S.A. has a 12 month low of $4.27 and a 12 month high of $7.16.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The bank reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.21. Banco Santander had a net margin of 15.88% and a return on equity of 11.90%. Equities analysts expect that Banco Santander, S.A. will post 0.83 EPS for the current year.

Banco Santander Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 7th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a $0.1152 dividend. This is a boost from Banco Santander's previous semi-annual dividend of $0.08. This represents a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. Banco Santander's dividend payout ratio is presently 19.28%.

About Banco Santander

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.