Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) Sets New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) shares reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $39.39 and last traded at $39.39, with a volume of 40845 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $37.85.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp in a research report on Sunday. They set a “sell” rating for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sandy Spring Bancorp has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.25.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.92 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.07.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.06). Sandy Spring Bancorp had a net margin of 11.54% and a return on equity of 5.71%. The business had revenue of $189.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.60 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.62 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a $0.34 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.50%. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.58%.

Institutional Trading of Sandy Spring Bancorp

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp in the third quarter worth about $29,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $105,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp during the second quarter worth about $117,000. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at $122,000. Finally, CWM LLC raised its holdings in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 59.4% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,561 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $135,000 after acquiring an additional 2,073 shares during the period. 66.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.