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

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) in a report published on Monday morning. The firm issued a sell rating on the bank’s stock.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp stock opened at $37.91 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.71 billion, a PE ratio of 19.92 and a beta of 0.96. 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.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 analysts’ expectations of $101.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.62 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Sandy Spring Bancorp will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Investors 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 3.59%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.58%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of SASR. CWM LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 59.4% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,561 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $135,000 after buying an additional 2,073 shares in the last quarter. Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at $205,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 25,456 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $620,000 after buying an additional 723 shares in the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 69.1% during the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 148,921 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,628,000 after buying an additional 60,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 36.2% in the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,050 shares of the bank’s stock worth $513,000 after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.90% of the company’s stock.

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.