Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

by · The Markets Daily

Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR – Get Free Report) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 939,300 shares, a decrease of 20.4% from the September 15th total of 1,180,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 325,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.9 days. Approximately 2.2% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 313,534 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,541,000 after purchasing an additional 43,987 shares during the last quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its position in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 69.1% in the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 148,921 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,628,000 after buying an additional 60,850 shares during the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 432.5% in the second quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 192,533 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,690,000 after buying an additional 156,377 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 5.7% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 473,241 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $11,528,000 after acquiring an additional 25,546 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 5.7% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 349,036 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,091,000 after acquiring an additional 18,887 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.90% of the company’s stock.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp stock traded up $0.71 on Friday, reaching $31.90. The stock had a trading volume of 291,549 shares, compared to its average volume of 254,557. The business’s 50 day moving average is $30.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.18. The company has a market cap of $1.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.95 and a beta of 0.95. Sandy Spring Bancorp has a 1 year low of $19.27 and a 1 year 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.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The bank reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.08. Sandy Spring Bancorp had a net margin of 12.31% and a return on equity of 6.41%. The firm had revenue of $184.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.60 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.60 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Sandy Spring Bancorp will post 1.93 EPS for the current year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.26%. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 68.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SASR has been the topic of several research reports. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Sandy Spring Bancorp from $23.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 25th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 27th. 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 report on Thursday, July 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have issued a hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sandy Spring Bancorp has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.00.

View Our Latest Report on SASR

About Sandy Spring Bancorp

(Get Free Report)

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.

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