Short Interest in Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) Declines By 28.8%

Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR - Get Free Report) was the target of a large decline in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 574,200 shares, a decline of 28.8% from the March 15th total of 806,000 shares. Currently, 1.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 302,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.9 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sandy Spring Bancorp

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 50,876 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,386,000 after acquiring an additional 1,578 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,673,548 shares of the bank's stock worth $72,827,000 after acquiring an additional 44,611 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised 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 acquiring an additional 43,987 shares during the period. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth about $77,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 38,613 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,053,000 after acquiring an additional 850 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SASR. Janney Montgomery Scott began coverage on Sandy Spring Bancorp in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a "neutral" rating and a $25.00 price objective for the company. Stephens lowered their price objective 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. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat, Sandy Spring Bancorp has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $24.00.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Stock Down 0.2 %

NASDAQ:SASR traded down $0.05 on Friday, reaching $20.30. The stock had a trading volume of 357,674 shares, compared to its average volume of 302,484. The company has a current ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The company has a 50-day moving average of $21.98 and a 200 day moving average of $22.93. The stock has a market cap of $912.28 million, a P/E ratio of 7.44 and a beta of 0.94. Sandy Spring Bancorp has a 12-month low of $19.27 and a 12-month high of $27.90.

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

Sandy Spring Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 13th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.70%. Sandy Spring Bancorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.