Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) Short Interest Update

Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,130,000 shares, an increase of 21.6% from the October 31st total of 929,100 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 467,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days. Approximately 2.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sandy Spring Bancorp

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at about $105,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at about $117,000. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at about $170,000. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its position in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 59.4% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,561 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $135,000 after buying an additional 2,073 shares during the period. 66.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Stock Performance

Sandy Spring Bancorp stock opened at $37.68 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $34.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $29.56. Sandy Spring Bancorp has a twelve month low of $19.52 and a twelve month high of $39.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company has a market cap of $1.70 billion, a PE ratio of 19.83 and a beta of 0.94.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.40 EPS 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.62 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Sandy Spring Bancorp will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.61%. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.58%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp in a report on Monday. They issued a “sell” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.25.

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.