Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Grows Stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) by 10.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 807,940 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 75,596 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 1.79% of Sandy Spring Bancorp worth $25,345,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at about $314,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 66.2% in the 3rd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,952 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $249,000 after purchasing an additional 3,168 shares during the period. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,906,000. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 112,409 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,526,000 after purchasing an additional 5,628 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 15.1% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 799,835 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,091,000 after purchasing an additional 104,968 shares during the period. 66.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Sandy Spring Bancorp Stock Up 2.3 %

Sandy Spring Bancorp stock opened at $38.71 on Tuesday. Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.52 and a twelve month high of $39.55. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $33.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.19. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.37 and a beta of 0.94.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.40 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $189.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.62 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.58%.

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.