STAMFORD, Connecticut, August 28, 2026, 21:08 (EDT)
- Webster Financial remains first on Yahoo’s indexed Most Active list, although WBS stopped trading after August 19.
- Santander’s cash-and-stock consideration was worth $78.89 per former Webster share at Friday’s SAN close.
- The implied value is 1.7% above WBS’s final $77.57 close and 4.4% above the announcement-day value.
- Santander targets $800 million of annual cost savings and an 18% U.S. return on tangible equity by 2028.
Webster Financial’s obsolete WBS ticker still led Yahoo Finance’s indexed Most Active list on Friday. The bank itself no longer trades. Santander completed its acquisition on August 20 and requested WBS’s delisting before that session opened SEC closing filing.
The anomaly matters for investors. A stale activity ranking can look like a fresh stock move. Economic exposure has instead shifted to Banco Santander NYSE: SAN and the cash paid at closing.
Each Webster share was exchanged for $48.75 cash and 2.0548 Santander American depositary shares. SAN closed Friday at $14.67. That makes the package worth $78.89, excluding cash for fractional shares.
| Former WBS holder value | Amount per share | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Cash consideration | $48.75 | Fixed at closing |
| 2.0548 SAN ADSs | $30.14 | SAN at $14.67, Aug. 28 close |
| Current implied total | $78.89 | Aug. 28, 16:00 EDT |
| WBS final close | $77.57 | Aug. 19, 2026 |
The current package exceeds WBS’s final close by $1.32, or 1.7%. It is also $3.30 above the $75.59 announcement-day value cited in Webster’s proxy. That gain came from Santander shares after WBS disappeared merger proxy.
The strategic prize is Webster’s deposit base. Webster ended June with $70.3 billion of deposits and $57.9 billion of loans. Its 82.3% loan-to-deposit ratio gives Santander cheaper funding capacity Webster results archive.
Webster produced $249.4 million of quarterly common net income. Revenue reached $740.0 million, while net interest margin was 3.26%. Its preliminary common-equity tier-one ratio stood at 11.69%.
Santander expects the combined U.S. business to hold about $327 billion of assets. Loans total roughly $185 billion and deposits $172 billion. The bank said the deal should lower its U.S. loan-to-deposit ratio from 109% to about 100% completion announcement.
The $800 million cost-savings target equals 6.6% of the stated $12.2 billion purchase price. Santander also describes it as about 19% of the combined cost base. Management aims for an efficiency ratio below 40% by 2028 Santander transaction terms.
That target is demanding. Webster’s adjusted efficiency ratio was 47.74% in the second quarter. The planned savings therefore need branch, technology and support-function integration without weakening deposit retention.
Traditional WBS analyst recommendations are now obsolete. Former shareholders own Santander ADSs plus cash, while Webster operates inside Santander’s U.S. structure. SAN’s price and integration disclosures are the relevant market signals.
Risks remain. Cost savings may arrive later than planned. Higher rates can lift funding costs and credit losses. Customer attrition or technology disruption could dilute the expected 7% to 8% earnings accretion.
Yahoo’s ranking is therefore a data-cleanliness warning, not a WBS trading signal. The investable question is whether Santander can turn Webster’s deposits into an 18% U.S. return on tangible equity by 2028.
Related articles: NYSE:SAN
