Geode Capital Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR)

Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) by 3.4% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,072,619 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 35,271 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC owned 2.38% of Sandy Spring Bancorp worth $33,654,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SASR. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 4.6% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,470,621 shares of the bank’s stock worth $60,182,000 after acquiring an additional 108,703 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP lifted its holdings in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,025,227 shares of the bank’s stock worth $32,161,000 after purchasing an additional 120,793 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 17.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 819,475 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,707,000 after purchasing an additional 121,574 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 807,940 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,345,000 after buying an additional 75,596 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 15.1% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 799,835 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $25,091,000 after buying an additional 104,968 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 66.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Sandy Spring Bancorp Stock Performance

NASDAQ SASR opened at $34.19 on Thursday. Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. has a 52-week low of $19.52 and a 52-week high of $39.55. The company has a fifty day moving average of $35.80 and a 200-day moving average of $31.18. The company has a market capitalization of $1.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.99 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last issued 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). The firm had revenue of $189.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.60 million. Sandy Spring Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.71% and a net margin of 11.54%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.62 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.58%.

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.