Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) Coverage Initiated at StockNews.com

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning. The firm issued a sell rating on the bank’s stock.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SASR opened at $36.85 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $35.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.38. Sandy Spring Bancorp has a 1-year low of $19.52 and a 1-year high of $39.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The company has a market cap of $1.66 billion, a PE ratio of 19.39 and a beta of 0.96.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $189.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.62 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Sandy Spring Bancorp will post 1.85 EPS 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 3.69%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.58%.

Institutional Trading of Sandy Spring Bancorp

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 93.9% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,271,498 shares of the bank’s stock worth $41,235,000 after acquiring an additional 615,591 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 3.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,072,619 shares of the bank’s stock worth $33,654,000 after acquiring an additional 35,271 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 36.8% in the 3rd 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 period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised 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 acquiring an additional 121,574 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp in the third quarter valued at $217,000. 66.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.