Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) Now Covered by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) in a research note released on Thursday. The firm issued a sell rating on the bank’s stock.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ SASR opened at $34.58 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $35.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.20. The stock has a market cap of $1.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.20 and a beta of 0.96. Sandy Spring Bancorp has a twelve month low of $19.52 and a twelve month high of $39.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $189.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.62 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Sandy Spring Bancorp will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.93%. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 71.58%.

Institutional Trading of Sandy Spring Bancorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SASR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 96.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 70,599 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,215,000 after purchasing an additional 34,735 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 93.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,271,498 shares of the bank’s stock worth $41,235,000 after buying an additional 615,591 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 3.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,072,619 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $33,654,000 after acquiring an additional 35,271 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 36.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 119,799 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,759,000 after acquiring an additional 32,223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 17.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 819,475 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,707,000 after purchasing an additional 121,574 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.90% of the company’s stock.

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.