Short Interest in Banco Santander (Brasil) S.A. (NYSE:BSBR) Expands By 21.0%

Banco Santander (Brasil) S.A. (NYSE:BSBR) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 3,230,000 shares, a growth of 21.0% from the February 13th total of 2,670,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 692,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.7 days. Approximately 0.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Banco Santander (Brasil)

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Banco Santander (Brasil) by 92.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 256,119 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,001,000 after buying an additional 122,924 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in shares of Banco Santander (Brasil) by 67.3% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 71,216 shares of the bank’s stock worth $278,000 after buying an additional 28,658 shares during the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Banco Santander (Brasil) during the 4th quarter worth approximately $983,000. Jane Street Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Banco Santander (Brasil) during the 4th quarter worth approximately $109,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Banco Santander (Brasil) by 99.1% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 52,212 shares of the bank’s stock worth $204,000 after buying an additional 25,985 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 14.53% of the company’s stock.

Banco Santander (Brasil) Stock Up 2.2 %

BSBR stock opened at $4.85 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $18.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.98, a PEG ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a current ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Banco Santander has a 12 month low of $3.75 and a 12 month high of $6.01. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $4.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $4.65.

Banco Santander (Brasil) Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 24th were issued a $0.066 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.45%. Banco Santander (Brasil)’s payout ratio is 24.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on BSBR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Banco Santander (Brasil) from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $7.00 to $6.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Banco Santander (Brasil) from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Banco Santander (Brasil) from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $4.20 to $4.70 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Bank of America lowered shares of Banco Santander (Brasil) from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th.

About Banco Santander (Brasil)

Banco Santander (Brasil) SA, together with its subsidiaries, provides various banking products and services to individuals, small and medium enterprises, and corporate customers in Brazil and internationally. The company operates through Commercial Banking and Global Wholesale Banking segments. It offers local loans, commercial financing options, development bank funds, and cash management services; export and import financing, guarantees, structuring of asset services.