Comparing Banco Santander (SAN) & Its Peers

Banco Santander (NYSE:SAN) is one of 919 publicly-traded companies in the “Banks” industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare Banco Santander to similar businesses based on the strength of its institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, dividends and profitability.

Dividends

Banco Santander pays an annual dividend of $0.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Banco Santander pays out 16.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Banks” companies pay a dividend yield of 8.9% and pay out 28.9% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

9.2% of Banco Santander shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.0% of shares of all “Banks” companies are held by institutional investors. 9.5% of Banco Santander shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.7% of shares of all “Banks” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Banco Santander has a beta of 0.78, meaning that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Banco Santander’s peers have a beta of 0.61, meaning that their average share price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Banco Santander and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Banco Santander	1	3	10	1	2.73
Banco Santander Competitors	7497	30257	27867	1491	2.35

Banco Santander currently has a consensus target price of $15.10, suggesting a potential upside of 24.64%. As a group, “Banks” companies have a potential upside of 14.59%. Given Banco Santander’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Banco Santander is more favorable than its peers.

Profitability

This table compares Banco Santander and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Banco Santander	26.16%	12.51%	0.74%
Banco Santander Competitors	15.62%	9.43%	0.93%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Banco Santander and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Banco Santander	$66.36 billion	$15.95 billion	9.85
Banco Santander Competitors	$9.95 billion	$2.42 billion	21.05

Banco Santander has higher revenue and earnings than its peers. Banco Santander is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Banco Santander beats its peers on 10 of the 15 factors compared.

About Banco Santander

Banco Santander is a Spain-based international banking group founded in 1857. Headquartered in Boadilla del Monte, Spain, it provides financial services to individuals, businesses and institutions through its banking and related businesses. The company’s services include retail and commercial banking, consumer finance, corporate and investment banking, payments, and wealth management. Its offerings include deposit accounts, loans, credit cards, and financial advice and investment services. Santander serves customers across Europe and the Americas, with operations in markets including Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, Brazil and Mexico.