Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) saw a large decrease in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 953,700 shares, a decrease of 17.1% from the August 15th total of 1,150,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 334,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days. Currently, 2.2% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on SASR shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Sandy Spring Bancorp from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp from $23.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $27.00.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of SASR stock opened at $32.13 on Tuesday. Sandy Spring Bancorp has a 12 month low of $19.27 and a 12 month high of $32.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market cap of $1.45 billion, a PE ratio of 15.75 and a beta of 0.96. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $29.65 and a 200-day moving average of $24.87.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.08. Sandy Spring Bancorp had a net margin of 12.31% and a return on equity of 6.41%. The company had revenue of $184.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.60 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Sandy Spring Bancorp will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th were issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 14th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.23%. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.67%.

Institutional Trading of Sandy Spring Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SASR. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new position in Sandy Spring Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth $77,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the 1st quarter worth about $98,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at about $105,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp in the second quarter valued at about $117,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp in the first quarter valued at about $122,000. Institutional investors own 66.90% of the company’s stock.

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.