Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. Buys Shares of 156,391 Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR)

Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. bought a new stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 156,391 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $4,906,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SASR. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 1,199.7% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 694,867 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $16,927,000 after purchasing an additional 641,402 shares during the last quarter. Elizabeth Park Capital Advisors Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp in the second quarter valued at about $4,778,000. Great Lakes Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 432.5% in the second 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 period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 18.5% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 775,252 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $18,885,000 after buying an additional 120,996 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 4.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,470,621 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $60,182,000 after buying an additional 108,703 shares during the period. 66.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SASR has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Sandy Spring Bancorp in a research note on Saturday. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. DA Davidson increased their price target on Sandy Spring Bancorp from $23.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Sandy Spring Bancorp from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.25.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Trading Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ SASR opened at $37.63 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.49. Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. has a one year low of $19.52 and a one year high of $39.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.81 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.40 EPS 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 business had revenue of $189.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.62 EPS. Research analysts expect that Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.61%. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 71.58%.

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.