Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Boosts Stock Position in Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,470,621 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 108,703 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 5.48% of Sandy Spring Bancorp worth $60,182,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at $8,423,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the 4th quarter valued at $77,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 16.3% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 313,534 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,541,000 after buying an additional 43,987 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 50,876 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,386,000 after buying an additional 1,578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp purchased a new position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at $220,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SASR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Sandy Spring Bancorp from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com lowered Sandy Spring Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Sandy Spring Bancorp from $23.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.00.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SASR opened at $31.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.03. Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $19.27 and a 52-week high of $34.19. The firm has a market cap of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.27 and a beta of 0.96. The business’s fifty day moving average is $30.46 and its 200 day moving average is $25.48.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $184.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.60 million. Sandy Spring Bancorp had a return on equity of 6.41% and a net margin of 12.31%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. Research analysts predict that Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th were paid a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 14th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.37%. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.67%.

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.