Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) Upgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Thursday.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $25.00 target price on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $25.00 target price for the company. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat, Sandy Spring Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.50.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Price Performance

SASR stock traded up $0.12 during trading on Thursday, hitting $23.55. 187,117 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 292,556. Sandy Spring Bancorp has a one year low of $19.27 and a one year high of $27.90. The stock has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.54 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.03. Sandy Spring Bancorp had a net margin of 12.74% and a return on equity of 6.65%. The firm had revenue of $184.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $97.45 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.16 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Sandy Spring Bancorp will post 1.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sandy Spring Bancorp

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,240,530 shares of the bank’s stock worth $61,033,000 after buying an additional 52,454 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 580,628 shares of the bank’s stock worth $15,816,000 after buying an additional 40,374 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 52.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 269,547 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,776,000 after buying an additional 92,175 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $980,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 4.8% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,432,995 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,709,000 after purchasing an additional 65,841 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.90% of the company’s stock.

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.