Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) in a research note issued on Friday. The firm set a “sell” rating on the bank’s stock.

SASR has been the topic of several other reports. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp from $23.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Sandy Spring Bancorp from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.25.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp stock opened at $37.54 on Friday. Sandy Spring Bancorp has a 1-year low of $19.52 and a 1-year high of $38.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market cap of $1.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.76 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $27.89.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.06). Sandy Spring Bancorp had a net margin of 11.54% and a return on equity of 5.74%. The company had revenue of $189.81 million during 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. Analysts predict that Sandy Spring Bancorp will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sandy Spring Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 1,199.7% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 694,867 shares of the bank’s stock worth $16,927,000 after purchasing an additional 641,402 shares in the last quarter. Elizabeth Park Capital Advisors Ltd. acquired a new position in Sandy Spring Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth about $4,778,000. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. purchased a new position in Sandy Spring Bancorp during the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,906,000. Great Lakes Advisors LLC grew its position in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 432.5% in the 2nd quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 192,533 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,690,000 after acquiring an additional 156,377 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 18.5% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 775,252 shares of the bank’s stock worth $18,885,000 after purchasing an additional 120,996 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.90% of the company’s stock.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Company Profile

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.