StockNews.com Initiates Coverage on Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR)

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) in a research report report published on Thursday. The firm issued a sell rating on the bank’s stock.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of SASR opened at $31.62 on Thursday. Sandy Spring Bancorp has a 12 month low of $19.52 and a 12 month high of $39.55. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.27 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The bank reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.01). Sandy Spring Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.31% and a net margin of 2.65%. Research analysts forecast that Sandy Spring Bancorp will post 2.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 19th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 12th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 12th. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s payout ratio is 302.23%.

Institutional Trading of Sandy Spring Bancorp

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 45.8% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,853,807 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $62,492,000 after acquiring an additional 582,309 shares during the last quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP lifted its stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,116,052 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $37,622,000 after acquiring an additional 90,825 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 3.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,072,619 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $33,654,000 after acquiring an additional 35,271 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 16.0% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 937,531 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $31,604,000 after acquiring an additional 129,591 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 893,547 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,121,000 after acquiring an additional 6,815 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.90% of the company’s stock.

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.