Vestcor Inc Purchases Shares of 1,102 Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR)

Vestcor Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 1,102 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $37,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at about $528,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at about $5,713,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at about $623,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 684,711 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $23,082,000 after acquiring an additional 4,787 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versor Investments LP acquired a new position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,678,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp in a report on Sunday. They set a “sell” rating on the stock.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SASR opened at $29.40 on Wednesday. Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.52 and a twelve month high of $39.55. The company’s 50 day moving average is $32.39 and its 200 day moving average is $33.48. 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 company has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a PE ratio of 65.33 and a beta of 0.96.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.01). Sandy Spring Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.31% and a net margin of 2.65%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. will post 2.48 EPS for the current year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 12th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 12th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.63%. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s payout ratio is 302.22%.

Sandy Spring Bancorp 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.