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

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) in a report published on Saturday. The firm issued a sell rating on the bank’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on SASR. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp from $23.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Sandy Spring Bancorp from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.25.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Price Performance

SASR opened at $37.03 on Friday. Sandy Spring Bancorp has a 12-month low of $19.52 and a 12-month high of $39.06. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.75. The company has a market cap of $1.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.49 and a beta of 0.94.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 11.54% and a return on equity of 5.71%. The company had revenue of $189.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.60 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.62 EPS. Research analysts predict 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.67%. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.58%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sandy Spring Bancorp

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in Sandy Spring Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth $98,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in Sandy Spring Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at about $105,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp in the second quarter valued at about $117,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp in the first quarter worth about $122,000. 66.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.