Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on SASR. Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on Sandy Spring Bancorp in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a neutral rating and a $25.00 target price for the company. Stephens restated an equal weight rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $23.50.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SASR opened at $21.37 on Thursday. Sandy Spring Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $19.27 and a fifty-two week high of $27.90. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.06. The firm has a market cap of $961.65 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.48 and a beta of 0.94.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $184.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $97.45 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.16 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Sandy Spring Bancorp will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.36%. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.67%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SASR. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 30.0% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,217 shares of the bank’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the 4th quarter worth $77,000. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth $94,000. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth $115,000. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 40.6% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 5,521 shares of the bank’s stock worth $150,000 after buying an additional 1,595 shares in the last quarter. 66.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.