Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) Earns Sell Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) in a research note issued to investors on Sunday. The brokerage issued a sell rating on the bank’s stock.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ SASR opened at $37.86 on Friday. Sandy Spring Bancorp has a 12-month low of $19.52 and a 12-month high of $39.55. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $33.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.19. The company has a market capitalization of $1.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.93 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $189.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 million. Sandy Spring Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.71% and a net margin of 11.54%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.62 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Sandy Spring Bancorp will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.59%. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s payout ratio is 71.58%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SASR. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth $122,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 26.8% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 21,284 shares of the bank’s stock worth $493,000 after acquiring an additional 4,500 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 102.8% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 25,404 shares of the bank’s stock worth $589,000 after acquiring an additional 12,880 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $302,000. Finally, EJF Capital LLC increased its position in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 26.6% during the 1st quarter. EJF Capital LLC now owns 79,259 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,837,000 after purchasing an additional 16,659 shares in the last quarter. 66.90% of the stock is owned by 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.