Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) Short Interest Update

Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,130,000 shares, an increase of 21.6% from the October 31st total of 929,100 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 467,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days. Currently, 2.6% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of SASR opened at $37.68 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $34.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.56. Sandy Spring Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $19.52 and a fifty-two week high of $39.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.70 billion, a PE ratio of 19.83 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last announced 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $101.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.62 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Sandy Spring Bancorp will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.58%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of SASR. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $105,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $117,000. CWM LLC raised 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 worth $135,000 after acquiring an additional 2,073 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Family Firm Inc. bought a new position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $144,000. Institutional investors own 66.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp in a research report on Monday. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.25.

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.