Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) Announces Semi-annual Dividend of $0.12

Banco Santander, S.A. (NYSE:SAN) announced a semi-annual dividend on Monday, March 10th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of 0.1152 per share by the bank on Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. This is a 44.0% increase from Banco Santander’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.08.

Banco Santander has raised its dividend payment by an average of 55.6% per year over the last three years. Banco Santander has a payout ratio of 22.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Banco Santander to earn $0.92 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.22 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 23.9%.

Banco Santander Stock Performance

NYSE:SAN opened at $6.39 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $96.75 billion, a PE ratio of 7.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.09. Banco Santander has a fifty-two week low of $4.27 and a fifty-two week high of $6.83. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $5.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $5.07.

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The bank reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21. Banco Santander had a return on equity of 11.90% and a net margin of 15.88%. Equities research analysts predict that Banco Santander will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Banco Santander from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Morgan Stanley raised Banco Santander from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised Banco Santander from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus 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.