Stephens Reaffirms Equal Weight Rating for Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR)

Stephens reissued their equal weight rating on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) in a research note published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $25.00 price objective on the bank’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on SASR. StockNews.com upgraded Sandy Spring Bancorp from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Janney Montgomery Scott began coverage on Sandy Spring Bancorp in a report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a neutral rating and a $25.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $23.50.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ SASR opened at $21.49 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.92. The company has a market capitalization of $967.05 million, a PE ratio of 10.53 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. Sandy Spring Bancorp has a 12 month low of $19.27 and a 12 month high of $27.90.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The bank reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $184.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $97.45 million. Sandy Spring Bancorp had a return on equity of 6.69% and a net margin of 12.74%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.16 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Sandy Spring Bancorp will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be issued 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 6.33%. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 66.67%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SASR. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 30.0% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,217 shares of the bank’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the third quarter worth about $115,000. Founders Financial Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the third quarter worth about $245,000. Denali Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 57.7% during the third quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 128,500 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,754,000 after buying an additional 47,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 20.0% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 11,725 shares of the bank’s stock worth $251,000 after buying an additional 1,956 shares in the last quarter. 66.90% of the stock is currently owned by 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.