Empowered Funds LLC Increases Holdings in Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR)

Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 112,409 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,628 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Sandy Spring Bancorp were worth $3,526,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $98,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at $105,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Sandy Spring Bancorp during the second quarter worth $117,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Sandy Spring Bancorp during the first quarter worth $122,000. 66.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on SASR. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Sandy Spring Bancorp in a research note on Saturday. They set a “sell” rating on the stock. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp from $23.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sandy Spring Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.25.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SASR opened at $37.34 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The firm has a market cap of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.65 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $33.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.65. Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. has a 12-month low of $19.52 and a 12-month high of $39.06.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.06). Sandy Spring Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.71% and a net margin of 11.54%. The company had revenue of $189.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.60 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.62 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.64%. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.58%.

About Sandy Spring Bancorp

Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Sandy Spring Bank that provides commercial and retail banking, mortgage, private banking, and trust services to individuals and businesses in the United States. It offers financial products and services, including various loan and deposit products.