Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) by 9.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,176 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,176 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Sandy Spring Bancorp were worth $321,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SASR. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 580,628 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,816,000 after buying an additional 40,374 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 2.4% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Sandy Spring Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,423,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 50,876 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,386,000 after buying an additional 1,578 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trexquant Investment LP lifted its holdings in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 30.6% during the fourth 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 during the period. 66.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Price Performance

Sandy Spring Bancorp stock opened at $32.25 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $19.27 and a 52-week high of $34.19. The firm has a market cap of $1.45 billion, a PE ratio of 15.81 and a beta of 0.96. The company’s 50 day moving average is $30.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.24.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.51 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $184.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.60 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. will post 1.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Announces Dividend

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. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 14th. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 66.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.