Short Interest in Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) Grows By 21.6%

Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,130,000 shares, an increase of 21.6% from the October 31st total of 929,100 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 467,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days. Currently, 2.6% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com assumed coverage on Sandy Spring Bancorp in a research note on Sunday, November 24th. They issued a “sell” rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.25.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC grew its stake in Sandy Spring Bancorp by 69.1% in the second quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 148,921 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,628,000 after acquiring an additional 60,850 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 432.5% in the 2nd quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 192,533 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,690,000 after purchasing an additional 156,377 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $11,528,000 after buying an additional 25,546 shares during the last quarter. Elizabeth Park Capital Advisors Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp during the second quarter worth about $4,778,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Sandy Spring Bancorp by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 807,940 shares of the bank’s stock worth $25,345,000 after acquiring an additional 75,596 shares during the last quarter. 66.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of SASR stock traded up $0.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $37.68. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 144,590 shares, compared to its average volume of 326,921. The company has a market cap of $1.70 billion, a PE ratio of 19.83 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.02. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.56. Sandy Spring Bancorp has a 52 week low of $19.52 and a 52 week high of $39.55.

Sandy Spring Bancorp (NASDAQ:SASR) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The bank reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $189.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $101.60 million. Sandy Spring Bancorp had a return on equity of 5.71% and a net margin of 11.54%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.62 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Sandy Spring Bancorp will post 1.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sandy Spring Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.61%. Sandy Spring Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 71.58%.

About Sandy Spring Bancorp

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.