196,138 Shares in Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) Acquired by Elizabeth Park Capital Advisors Ltd.

Elizabeth Park Capital Advisors Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 196,138 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $4,778,000. Sandy Spring Bancorp accounts for about 4.1% of Elizabeth Park Capital Advisors Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in 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 worth $60,182,000 after purchasing an additional 108,703 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings 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 worth $18,885,000 after buying an additional 120,996 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 1,199.7% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 694,867 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $16,927,000 after buying an additional 641,402 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 5.7% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 473,241 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $11,528,000 after buying an additional 25,546 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 1.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 384,726 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,372,000 after acquiring an additional 5,324 shares during the period. 66.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp stock opened at $31.21 on Thursday. Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.27 and a twelve month high of $34.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $30.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $25.35. The firm has a market cap of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.30 and a beta of 0.96.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.08. Sandy Spring Bancorp had a return on equity of 6.41% and a net margin of 12.31%. The business had revenue of $184.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.60 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.60 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 14th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 14th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.36%. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 66.67%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SASR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. DA Davidson boosted 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 price objective on Sandy Spring Bancorp from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $27.00.

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.