Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) Now Covered by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) in a research report sent to investors on Sunday morning. The firm issued a sell rating on the bank’s stock.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Stock Up 1.8 %

SASR stock opened at $37.85 on Friday. Sandy Spring Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $19.52 and a fifty-two week high of $39.06. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $33.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company has a market capitalization of $1.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.92 and a beta of 0.94.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $189.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.62 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Sandy Spring Bancorp will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.59%. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.58%.

Institutional Trading of Sandy Spring Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SASR. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its position in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 69.1% in the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 148,921 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,628,000 after acquiring an additional 60,850 shares in the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC raised its stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 432.5% during the 2nd quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 192,533 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,690,000 after buying an additional 156,377 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 473,241 shares of the bank’s stock worth $11,528,000 after purchasing an additional 25,546 shares in the last quarter. Elizabeth Park Capital Advisors Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth $4,778,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 1,199.7% in the 2nd 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. 66.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.