156,391 Shares in Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) Acquired by Stieven Capital Advisors L.P.

Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. acquired a new stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 156,391 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $4,906,000. Stieven Capital Advisors L.P. owned approximately 0.35% of Sandy Spring Bancorp at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Sandy Spring Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at $98,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at $105,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at $117,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at $122,000. 66.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of SASR stock opened at $37.63 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.52 and a twelve month high of $39.06. The company has a market cap of $1.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.81 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.49.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.40 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $189.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.62 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be given a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.61%. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on SASR shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Sandy Spring Bancorp from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. DA Davidson upped their target price on Sandy Spring Bancorp from $23.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Sandy Spring Bancorp in a research report on Saturday. They set a “sell” rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sandy Spring Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.25.

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.