Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) Sets New 1-Year High at $31.32

Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $31.32 and last traded at $31.01, with a volume of 55725 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $29.88.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Sandy Spring Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 8th. 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, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.50.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Trading Up 5.1 %

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.65 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

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

Sandy Spring Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.33%. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 66.67%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,628,937 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $56,338,000 after buying an additional 12,576 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,240,530 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $61,033,000 after buying an additional 52,454 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 854,774 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $23,284,000 after buying an additional 4,855 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 580,628 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,816,000 after buying an additional 40,374 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 14.1% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 434,377 shares of the bank’s stock worth $9,309,000 after purchasing an additional 53,655 shares in the last quarter. 66.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.