Short Interest in Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) Increases By 23.7%

Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,180,000 shares, an increase of 23.7% from the August 31st total of 953,700 shares. Currently, 2.7% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 351,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.4 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SASR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp from $23.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sandy Spring Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $27.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sandy Spring Bancorp

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

Sandy Spring Bancorp Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SASR traded down $0.10 during trading on Friday, reaching $31.15. 222,598 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 387,520. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.27 and a beta of 0.96. Sandy Spring Bancorp has a 52-week low of $19.27 and a 52-week high of $34.19. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The business’s fifty day moving average is $30.46 and its 200-day moving average is $25.45.

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

Sandy Spring Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend was Wednesday, August 14th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.37%. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.