SG consoles Santander with upgrade in spite of rating cuts

LONDON (ShareCast) - Spanish bank Banco Santander (Amsterdam: SANT.AS - news) had its stock upgraded by French brokerage firm Societe Generale (Paris: FR0000130809 - news) from sell to hold and the price target raised from €5.30 to €6.20 on tuesday. This recommendation sheds a bit of positive light on the Spanish bank after its ratings were cut by rating agencies Standard & Poor's (S&P) and Fitch. Last night, S&P downgraded its ratings for 15 Spanish banks, lowering Banco Santander's rating to "A+" from "AA-" with a negative outlook. Fitch lowered the bank's rating to "A" from "AA-" because its business in British, Eastern Europe, US, and Latin American "does not entirely mitigate the rating constraints arising from its domicile", although it positively differentiates the bank from more domestic-based banks. S.C./M.G.