Stifel Financial Corp Makes New $217,000 Investment in Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR)

Stifel Financial Corp acquired a new stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 6,916 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp in the second quarter valued at about $105,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the second quarter worth about $117,000. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Sandy Spring Bancorp during the third quarter worth about $170,000. Finally, Inspire Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Sandy Spring Bancorp during the second quarter worth about $217,000. 66.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Stock Down 2.4 %

SASR opened at $33.76 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.77 and a beta of 0.96. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.35. Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. has a 52 week low of $19.52 and a 52 week high of $39.55. 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 released 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). Sandy Spring Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.71% and a net margin of 11.54%. The firm had revenue of $189.81 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $101.60 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.62 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.25.

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.