Sandy Spring Bancorp’s (SASR) Equal Weight Rating Reaffirmed at Stephens

Stephens reissued their equal weight rating on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) in a research report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Stephens currently has a $25.00 price target on the bank’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on SASR. StockNews.com raised Sandy Spring Bancorp from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on Sandy Spring Bancorp in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a neutral rating and a $25.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sandy Spring Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $23.50.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ SASR opened at $21.49 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Sandy Spring Bancorp has a twelve month low of $19.27 and a twelve month high of $27.90. The company has a market cap of $967.05 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.53 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s fifty day moving average is $21.59 and its 200 day moving average is $22.92.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.03. Sandy Spring Bancorp had a return on equity of 6.69% and a net margin of 12.74%. The company had revenue of $184.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $97.45 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.16 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Sandy Spring Bancorp will post 2.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 7th. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 66.67%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 12,542 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $342,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares during the period. Teton Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Teton Advisors Inc. now owns 34,000 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $729,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 163,831 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,511,000 after purchasing an additional 505 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 30.0% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,217 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 16,297 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $349,000 after purchasing an additional 838 shares during the period. 66.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.