How to Buy Santander Shares in 2023

Carolina Caro Mora
Santander Bank is one of Europe's largest banks and one of the companies with the most weight in Spain's IBEX 35 stock index. You have two options for investing in it: Buying Santander shares in cash or trade CFDs on the bank's shares.

✺ Santander reported record profits in 2022, prior to the latest interest rate hikes. 

✺ Its share price is currently at the critical level of 3.50 euros. 

✺ In 2022, its earnings per share were 23% higher than the previous year.

Banco Santander | Milestones

Banco Santander is the largest financial institution in Spain in terms of market capitalization, and the second largest of the IBEX 35 stocks. It ranks near the top of the index, with only Iberdrola ranking higher (from the BME annual report on IBEX 35, page 67).

◉ Its origins date back to 1857, when it was linked to trade between the port of Santander and Latin America. It was in the 20th century when it experienced exponential growth, doubling its balance sheet and approaching half a million pesetas in profits in 1917.  
◉ In 1920, Emilio Botín y López was elected the first permanent chairman, thus beginning a saga that still continues today with Ana Botín at the helm. 
◉ In 1950, with the arrival of Emilio Botín Sanz de Sautuola y López as chairman, the bank began a major expansion process in Spain with the acquisition of local entities. At the same time, Banco Santander opened its first offices in America and London. 
◉ At the end of the 1980s, the bank strengthens its presence in Europe by buying CC-Bank in Germany and allies with The Royal Bank of Scotland. 
◉ In the early 1990s, Santander acquired Banesto and in 1999, together with BCH, it was the first major bank merger in the euro area. In the 2000s, several Latin American banks and the British bank Abbey joined the group. 
◉ In 2005 it acquired its first US stake in Sovereign Bancorp, which it acquired in its entirety in 2010. 

As of August 2022, when this article was last updated, Banco Santander operated in 9 main markets: Spain, Poland, Portugal, United Kingdom, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and the United States. It had 160 million customers and 3.9 million shareholders. 

In February 2023, when this article was last updated, Banco Santander operated in 9 main markets: Spain, Germany, Poland, Portugal, United Kingdom, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and the United States. It had 157 million customers and 4 million shareholders. 

Before we start the analysis on how to invest in Santander shares, click on the banner below to download MetaTrader 5, the world's most premiere trading paltform!

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Key Fundamental Data

Banco Santander has a solid foundation if we look at fundamental analysis. Let's take a look at some recent data published on Santander's website:

  • Record Profit 2022: €9605 million, up 18% from a year earlier.  
  • Earnings per share (EPS): 53.9 cents in 2022, 23% more than in 2021.   
  • Annual dividend yield = 3.11%.

Santander Shares | Performance in Stock Exchange

Santander's shares are listed on the stock exchanges of Madrid, New York, London, Lisbon, Mexico, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires and Milan, and are included in 63 different indices. In Spain, it is one of the 35 companies that make up the Ibex 35, the benchmark index of the Madrid Stock Exchange. 

To make a decision on whether to invest your money in Santander through its shares, we need to see how they have evolved over time. 

Admirals MetaTrader 5 - Santander Weekly Chart. Data range: 1 October 2006 to 8 February 2023

As we can see in the chart above, the Banco Santander share price reached close to 14 euros just before the last financial crisis broke out. However, since then it has maintained a long-term bearish sideways bias with declining highs up to the current levels around €3.50. 

The downward trend was accentuated between 2010 and 2011, during the severe euro crisis, until in July 2012 the then president of the ECB, Mario Draghi, announced measures to curb the debt crisis. That year also saw the nationalization of Bankia by the government. 

Spanish banks recovered to some extent on the stock market thanks to the ECB's stimulus measures and despite the interest rate cut. This positive trend continued until 2015 when, once again, Spanish banks and, in particular, Santander shares, were once again penalized on the stock market.

However, there was a period of calm until June 2017. On that date, Banco Santander bought Banco Popular. Since then, Banco Santander shares have not recovered on the Madrid Stock Exchange.  

In March 2020, the markets collapse due to the Covid-19 pandemic and Santander shares fall to 1.5 euros. In the following months, the shares managed to recover to 3.5 euros, a level that it has tried to surpass on several occasions since May 2021 until now. 

On 8 February 2023, the price tried again to break through this resistance, coinciding with the long-term bearish line, after breaking above the 200-week exponential moving average.   

Is this a good time to invest in Santander? Can we buy low and sell high? Let's zoom in on the chart!

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Santander Shares Chart 2020 / 2022

The ECB's policy of minimum interest rates over the last decade has penalized the share price of banks in general and Santander in particular. The start of the Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions it entailed weighed down the bank's shares even more, which at the beginning of 2021 began to recover little by little although they did not manage to exceed EUR 3.5.    

Since then and until now, the price has been in a sideways channel in a range between 2.40 and 3.5 euros.

Admirals MetaTrader 5. Santander stock performance in 2020-2023 on the IBEX35. Daily chart. Data range 21 May 2020 to 8 February 2023

Santander Shares | Dividends

Another aspect you might want to look at if you want to invest in Santander is its stock dividends. The last dividend paid by Banco Santander to its shareholders was paid on 2 November 2022 when the bank paid an interim cash dividend out of 2022 earnings of 5.83 euro cents per share.   

When the pandemic began, the bank suspended payment of the 2019 final dividend and put on hold the dividend for 2020, which was finally set at 2.75 cents, the maximum allowed by the ECB in that context.  

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Shares in Santander | How to Invest?

Is now a good time to invest in Santander shares? In the current context it is very difficult to make a long-term projection of Santander's stock market performance. There are too many uncertainties due to fears of a global recession despite the ECB's rapid rate hike.

There are two options for investing in Santander. 

▶️ With the Invest.MT5 account you can buy Santander shares directly in the market, in the traditional way, and try to benefit from possible rises. However, if the share price falls, you will make a loss. There are several options for investing in Santander. 

▶️ Admirals allows you to buy contracts for difference (CFDs) through the Trade.MT5 account on its MetaTrader 5 platform. CFDs provide the opportunity to invest in many financial instruments, be they stocks, indices, Forex, commodities, etc. In addition, it allows trading with leverage

Shares in Santander | How to Sell? 

With the Trade.MT5 account you can also sell Banco Santander shares via CFDs, which allows the trader to speculate on the fall of the asset. Short selling consists of selling the underlying asset of the CFD in the expectation that its price will fall. If this expectation is fulfilled, the trader will buy the shares at a lower price, pocketing the difference. 

To sell Santander shares via CFDs with Admirals follow the steps below:

  • Log in to your MetaTrader trading account
  • Click on the Market Watch tab 
  • Under Symbols, type Santander in the search bar 
  • Select the Santander stock and click on Show Symbol 
  • Click New Order and then click Sell at Market. 

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INFORMATION ABOUT ANALYTICAL MATERIALS:

The given data provides additional information regarding all analysis, estimates, prognosis, forecasts, market reviews, weekly outlooks or other similar assessments or information (hereinafter “Analysis”) published on the websites of Admiral Markets investment firms operating under the Admiral Markets and Admirals trademarks (hereinafter “Admirals”). Before making any investment decisions please pay close attention to the following:
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