Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN)

Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders purchased 13,194 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 1,244% compared to the typical daily volume of 982 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Banco Santander

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Banco Santander by 1.4% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 143,585,152 shares of the bank's stock worth $732,284,000 after acquiring an additional 2,011,150 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Banco Santander by 5.1% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Banco Santander by 46.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,775,261 shares of the bank's stock worth $49,135,000 after acquiring an additional 3,413,685 shares during the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment bought a new position in shares of Banco Santander in the third quarter worth about $53,000. Finally, Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Banco Santander by 106.3% in the fourth quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 9,101,145 shares of the bank's stock worth $41,501,000 after acquiring an additional 4,689,461 shares during the last quarter. 9.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Banco Santander Stock Performance

Shares of SAN stock traded up $0.03 on Friday, hitting $6.92. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,600,825 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,202,844. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.83, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 2.24. The stock's 50 day moving average is $5.86 and its 200-day moving average is $5.18. Banco Santander has a fifty-two week low of $4.27 and a fifty-two week high of $7.16. The company has a market capitalization of $104.78 billion, a PE ratio of 8.33, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.09.

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Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The bank reported $0.21 EPS 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 research analysts expect that Banco Santander will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Banco Santander Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on SAN. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Banco Santander from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Banco Santander from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Banco Santander from a "hold" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Banco Santander from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy".

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.