Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) Hits New 52-Week High at $27.91

Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $27.91 and last traded at $27.76, with a volume of 41795 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.79.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SASR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $25.00 price target on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sandy Spring Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.50.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.13 and a beta of 0.97. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $23.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.02.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.03. Sandy Spring Bancorp had a net margin of 12.74% and a return on equity of 6.65%. The business had revenue of $184.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $97.45 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.16 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 8th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.92%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 7th. 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 the company. Sapient Capital LLC purchased a new position in Sandy Spring Bancorp in the second quarter valued at about $205,000. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 59.4% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,561 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $135,000 after acquiring an additional 2,073 shares during the last quarter. EJF Capital LLC boosted its stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 26.6% in the first quarter. EJF Capital LLC now owns 79,259 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,837,000 after acquiring an additional 16,659 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new position in Sandy Spring Bancorp in the first quarter valued at about $302,000. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 2.4% in the first quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 234,860 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,444,000 after acquiring an additional 5,574 shares during the last quarter. 66.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.