StockNews.com Initiates Coverage on Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR)

Equities researchers at StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) in a report released on Friday. The firm set a “sell” rating on the bank’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. 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 report on Thursday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Sandy Spring Bancorp from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.25.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SASR opened at $37.54 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. Sandy Spring Bancorp has a twelve month low of $19.52 and a twelve month high of $38.54. The company’s 50 day moving average is $32.40 and its 200 day moving average is $27.89. The company has a market cap of $1.69 billion, a PE ratio of 19.76 and a beta of 0.94.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last released 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). The business had revenue of $189.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 million. Sandy Spring Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.74% and a net margin of 11.54%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.62 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Sandy Spring Bancorp will post 1.85 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Sandy Spring Bancorp

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $301,000. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 8.2% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 99,221 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,300,000 after purchasing an additional 7,492 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp in the first quarter valued at about $122,000. Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 26.8% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 21,284 shares of the bank’s stock worth $493,000 after purchasing an additional 4,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 17,344 shares of the bank’s stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 1,316 shares during the last quarter. 66.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.