Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lowered its stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) by 30.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,844 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 5,996 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Sandy Spring Bancorp were worth $467,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth $170,000. Stifel Financial Corp purchased a new stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth $217,000. CWM LLC lifted its stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 27.4% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 7,086 shares of the bank’s stock worth $222,000 after purchasing an additional 1,525 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Associated Banc Corp bought a new stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth about $249,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Sandy Spring Bancorp Stock Performance

Sandy Spring Bancorp stock opened at $33.87 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $35.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.50. Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. has a twelve month low of $19.52 and a twelve month high of $39.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company has a market cap of $1.53 billion, a PE ratio of 17.83 and a beta of 0.98.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.40 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 net margin of 11.54% and a return on equity of 5.71%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.62 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. will post 1.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.02%. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s payout ratio is 71.58%.

Sandy Spring Bancorp 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.