Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) Shares Sold by State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D trimmed its holdings in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) by 19.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 70,549 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 17,432 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Sandy Spring Bancorp were worth $2,213,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its holdings in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 69.1% during the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 148,921 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,628,000 after acquiring an additional 60,850 shares in the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 432.5% during the second quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 192,533 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,690,000 after purchasing an additional 156,377 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 5.7% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 473,241 shares of the bank’s stock worth $11,528,000 after buying an additional 25,546 shares during the period. Elizabeth Park Capital Advisors Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,778,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 1,199.7% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 694,867 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $16,927,000 after buying an additional 641,402 shares during the period. 66.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on SASR shares. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp in a report on Friday, November 8th. They set a “sell” rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Sandy Spring Bancorp from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price target on Sandy Spring Bancorp from $23.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.25.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SASR opened at $38.01 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.01 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $32.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.02. Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. has a one year low of $19.52 and a one year high of $39.06.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $189.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 million. Sandy Spring Bancorp had a net margin of 11.54% and a return on equity of 5.71%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.62 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.58%. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 71.58%.

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.