Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) Receives $24.00 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR - Get Free Report) have earned an average rating of "Hold" from the four ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $24.00.

Several research firms recently weighed in on SASR. Stephens decreased their target price on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott began coverage on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $25.00 target price for the company.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sandy Spring Bancorp

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 3.2% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,277,133 shares of the bank's stock worth $150,812,000 after buying an additional 133,565 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 0.7% during the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,986,559 shares of the bank's stock worth $116,685,000 after buying an additional 22,123 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 0.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,800,845 shares of the bank's stock worth $98,758,000 after buying an additional 25,086 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 5.1% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,635,944 shares of the bank's stock worth $68,482,000 after buying an additional 127,698 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 26.0% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,544,678 shares of the bank's stock worth $40,131,000 after buying an additional 318,446 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.90% of the company's stock.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Stock Up 4.1 %

Shares of SASR traded up $0.81 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $20.76. 267,599 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 301,079. The company has a market cap of $934.20 million, a PE ratio of 7.60 and a beta of 0.94. Sandy Spring Bancorp has a 52 week low of $19.27 and a 52 week high of $27.90. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.09. Sandy Spring Bancorp had a net margin of 17.43% and a return on equity of 8.66%. The business had revenue of $182.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $101.53 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.79 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Sandy Spring Bancorp will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 21st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.34 per share. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.55%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 13th. Sandy Spring Bancorp's dividend payout ratio is 49.82%.

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.