Great Lakes Advisors LLC Raises Position in Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) by 432.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 192,533 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 156,377 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC owned 0.43% of Sandy Spring Bancorp worth $4,690,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 38,556 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,050,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp purchased a new position in Sandy Spring Bancorp in the fourth quarter worth approximately $257,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 580,628 shares of the bank’s stock worth $15,816,000 after acquiring an additional 40,374 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,240,530 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $61,033,000 after purchasing an additional 52,454 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 854,774 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $23,284,000 after purchasing an additional 4,855 shares in the last quarter. 66.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on SASR. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com downgraded Sandy Spring Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their target price on 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Sandy Spring Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.00.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of SASR stock opened at $30.78 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $28.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.03. Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $19.27 and a 1 year high of $32.38. The firm has a market cap of $1.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.09 and a beta of 0.96.

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

Sandy Spring Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 14th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 14th. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.67%.

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.