Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) Shares Sold by Inspire Investing LLC

Inspire Investing LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) by 5.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,416 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 928 shares during the quarter. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Sandy Spring Bancorp were worth $400,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 580,628 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,816,000 after purchasing an additional 40,374 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,240,530 shares of the bank’s stock worth $61,033,000 after purchasing an additional 52,454 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Sandy Spring Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $8,423,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 50,876 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,386,000 after buying an additional 1,578 shares during the period. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP raised its position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 30.6% during the 4th quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 42,483 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,157,000 after buying an additional 9,949 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.90% of the company’s stock.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Stock Down 2.9 %

SASR stock opened at $32.54 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.95 and a beta of 0.96. Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $19.27 and a 52-week high of $34.19. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.13.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $184.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.60 million. Sandy Spring Bancorp had a net margin of 12.31% and a return on equity of 6.41%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 14th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.18%. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 66.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Sandy Spring Bancorp from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp from $23.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sandy Spring Bancorp presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $27.00.

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.