Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) Sets New 52-Week High Following Earnings Beat

Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) shares reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock traded as high as $31.32 and last traded at $31.01, with a volume of 55725 shares. The stock had previously closed at $29.88.

The bank reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.08. Sandy Spring Bancorp had a return on equity of 6.44% and a net margin of 12.31%. The business had revenue of $184.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.60 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 earnings per share.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com lowered Sandy Spring Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Sandy Spring Bancorp from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, DA Davidson increased their target price on Sandy Spring Bancorp from $23.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 0.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,628,937 shares of the bank’s stock worth $56,338,000 after buying an additional 12,576 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,240,530 shares of the bank’s stock worth $61,033,000 after acquiring an additional 52,454 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 854,774 shares of the bank’s stock worth $23,284,000 after acquiring an additional 4,855 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 580,628 shares of the bank’s stock worth $15,816,000 after acquiring an additional 40,374 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 5.7% during the 1st 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. Institutional investors own 66.90% of the company’s stock.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Stock Up 2.2 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.39 billion, a PE ratio of 15.16 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $24.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.03.

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.